IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – More than 2,200 drums containing Cold War weapons waste at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site recently received the green light for certification to be shipped out of state in compliance with the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement.

The EM Carlsbad Field Office (CBFO) approved documentation to allow for certification and shipment of 2,237 drums of transuranic (TRU) waste stored at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the INL Site. TRU waste consists of tools, rags, protective clothing, sludges, soil, and other materials contaminated with radioactive elements. These manmade elements have atomic numbers greater than uranium on the periodic table of elements, thus “trans-uranic” or beyond uranium.

CBFO is responsible for ensuring the INL Site and other waste generators across the DOE complex comply with the waste acceptance criteria at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). CBFO collaborates with the Idaho TRU Programs teams to make sure the waste meets the criteria for safe transport and disposal at WIPP.

“The strengthened partnership between the Idaho and Carlsbad offices has helped focus both contractors on getting waste ready for certification and ultimately shipped out of Idaho,” said Connie Flohr, manager of the Idaho Cleanup Project. “I appreciate the efforts of CBFO Manager Reinhard Knerr and his team to help us meet our site treatment plan milestones.”

The INL Site waste to be certified for shipment to WIPP was primarily generated at the former Rocky Flats Plant, one of EM’s closure sites, with other waste generators across the country also contributing smaller portions of the waste stored at the INL Site during the Cold War.

The waste drums were safely compacted in the AMWTP’s supercompactor, which leveraged 4 million pounds of force to create 5-inch-thick “pucks” out of the drums to maximize the waste volume of each shipment.

“Everybody is happy this waste is moving forward,” said Ed Gulbransen, TRU Programs manager for Fluor Idaho, the INL Site cleanup contractor. “It’s allowing us to keep the shipping pipeline to WIPP open and fulfill our commitments to the citizens of Idaho.”

Gulbransen said the amount of waste approved to be certified to ship equates to six shipments a week through February 2022.

To date, AMWTP has shipped more than 58,000 cubic meters of Cold War legacy waste out of the state of Idaho, while also assisting with waste treatment and shipment of Los Alamos National Laboratory and Nevada National Security Site waste. The Idaho Settlement Agreement requires that the total inventory of waste — 65,000 cubic meters — be shipped out of the state for permanent disposal.