U.S. may keep Idaho nuclear waste plant running longer

BOISE, Idaho — U.S. officials are considering extending the use of an eastern Idaho nuclear waste treatment facility beyond its scheduled closure this year so it can repackage radioactive waste brought in from other states before it’s sent to a permanent disposal site at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plan in New Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Plant at a site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory was set to stop operating after it finished treating waste from Idaho this year. But the Energy Department is considering keeping the $500 million plant that employs about 600 workers running.

“The department has been looking at where to take waste from other DOE sites and treat it,” Energy Department spokesman Brad Bugger said last week. “Hanford has a very significant volume of waste that could be treated at Idaho.”

Hanford, a sprawling Energy Department site in eastern Washington state that contains more than 50 million gallons of radioactive and toxic wastes in underground storage tanks, is a former nuclear weapons production area.

The Idaho treatment plant handles transuranic waste that includes items like work clothing, rags, machine parts and tools that have been contaminated with plutonium, americium or other radioactive elements. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says transuranic wastes take much longer to decay and are the most radioactive hazard in highlevel waste after 1,000 years. The Idaho treatment plant compacts the transuranic waste, making it easier to ship and put into long-term storage at WIPP.