EM recently moved a significant step toward closure of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site’s largest building, which could comfortably house a modern U.S. aircraft carrier.
Office of Environmental Management
July 25, 2023
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IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – EM recently moved a significant step toward closure of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site’s largest building, which could comfortably house a modern U.S. aircraft carrier.
EM and contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition were notified that the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality considers two concrete pads at the Transuranic Storage Area-Retrieval Enclosure (TSA-RE) officially closed following the completion of required work under the facility’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) interim operating permit.
The two pads represent more than half of the 7-acre TSA-RE. Closure means the pads can no longer be used for waste storage and do not require additional remediation.
The TSA-RE pads received waste from DOE sites, primarily the former Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, Colorado, from 1970 to the late 1980s. Waste was stored outside on asphalt pads and covered with clean soil. The TSA-RE, a metal-framed building with metal siding, was constructed over the massive waste-storage mound. The building was constructed to allow for safe retrieval of the waste from the asphalt pads for treatment at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) treatment facility. TSA-RE is part of the AMWTP complex.
In the lead-up to official closure of the two concrete pads at TSA-RE, crews removed more than 15 million pounds of asphalt, filling 860 waste containers.
“This is a tremendous accomplishment,” said Dave Martin, AMWTP operations director. “It’s a proud, yet bittersweet, time for the folks who have invested so much of their careers at AMWTP.”
Although the two concrete pads constitute the majority of the TSA-RE building footprint, waste destined for EM’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant or other off-site repositories is stored on a remaining asphalt pad permitted under a different RCRA permit and overseen by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
EM plans to demolish the TSA-RE building once it’s empty. Crews will then tear down other buildings and structures at the AMWTP until the entire AMWTP facility is closed near the end of this decade.
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