History of the Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP)
The Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site was
established in 1949 as the National Reactor Testing Station. The original
mission of the INL Site was to develop and test civilian and defense nuclear
reactor technologies and manage Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF). Fifty-two reactors
—most of them first of a kind — were built at the site, including the Navy’s
first prototype nuclear propulsion plant. Of the 52 reactors, four remain in
operation.
In 1951, the INL Site achieved one of the most
significant scientific accomplishments of the century — the first use of
nuclear fission to produce a usable quantity of electricity at the Experimental
Breeder Reactor No. 1 (EBR-I). The EBR-I is now a registered National Historic
Landmark open to the public.
The ICP was created to help accelerate cleanup
of the environment at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) INL Site. In 1989,
the INL site was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National
Priorities List of Superfund Sites due to suspected and confirmed historical
contaminant releases to the environment.
Of principal concern was the Site's impact on
the underlying Snake River Plain Aquifer, a sole-source aquifer and primary
drinking and agricultural water source for more than 300,000 Idahoans. The past
use of unlined wastewater disposal ponds, industrial injection wells,
accidental spills, and waste discharges created contaminant plumes underneath
the 890-square-mile Site.
Today, ICP is responsible for treating,
storing, and dispositioning a variety of radioactive and hazardous wastes;
removing and dispositioning targeted buried waste; removing or deactivating
unneeded facilities; and managing — and ultimately removing — SNF and high-level
waste (HLW) from Idaho. Activities are primarily performed at the Radioactive
Waste Management Complex (RWMC) and the Idaho Nuclear Technology and
Engineering Center (INTEC) facilities.
Challenging projects are still in store as the
ICP workforce helps pave the way for the vital new energy, national security
and other missions at DOE's INL Site.
About the Federal Facilities Agreement &
Consent Order
The EPA, state of Idaho and Doe signed the
Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (FFA/CO) and associated Action
Plan on December 9, 1991. This legally binding agreement outlined the process
and schedule for investigating suspected and confirmed contaminant release
sites, and required the DOE to annually request the necessary funding to carry
out the cleanup mission. Since 1991, the FFA/CO parties have signed 28 records
of decision on individual contaminant release sites and entire facilities at
the INL Site. More than $12.6 billion since 1997 has been spent on
environmental cleanup, thus far.
About the Idaho Settlement Agreement
DOE, the U.S. Navy, and the state of Idaho
have entered into legal-binding agreements that dictate the cleanup, treatment,
relocation, or removal of other materials and waste types not specifically
called out in the landmark 1991 cleanup agreement. Most notable is the 1995
Idaho Settlement Agreement, sometimes called the Batt Agreement.
This agreement contains enforceable milestones
for the removal of transuranic waste, spent nuclear fuel, high-level granulated
waste (called calcine), and radioactive liquid waste currently stored in an
underground tank farm.
About the Idaho Environmental Coalition
In 2021, Idaho Environmental Coalition, LLC
was selected by the DOE to manage cleanup operations at the Idaho National
Laboratory (INL) Site under a ten-year, $6.4 billion contract. IEC is comprised
of Amentum, North Wind Portage, and a team of integrated small business
subcontractors, Navarro, Oak Ridge Technologies and Spectra Tech.
Key Regulatory
Milestones 2024–2033
The regulatory milestones are contained in the
1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement (ISA), 2019 Supplemental Agreement (SA), the
Agreement to Implement the ISA (AI), the Site Treatment Plan (STP), and the
Federal Facility Agreement Compliance Order (FFACO). The milestones include:
●
Idaho
provides at least 55 percent of transuranic waste shipments to WIPP, based on
an annual three-year average (SA)
●
15 percent of total Tank Farm waste volume
treated by Integrated Waste Treatment Unit each fiscal year for next three
years (45 percent total) – 2024 - 2026 (STP)
●
Commence treatment of calcine waste — 2024
(STP)
●
Complete certification of original volume TRU
waste — 2024 (STP)
●
Complete sodium-bearing waste operations —
2028 (STP)
●
Complete SDA cap — 2031
Key Accomplishments
to Date
·
Completed legacy
waste exhumation at the Subsurface Disposal Area (SDA) 18 months ahead of
schedule – March 2022
·
Following the
demolition of two ancillary structures, crews began demolition of the Submarine
1st Generation Westinghouse (S1W) reactor prototype at the Naval Reactors Facility in August 2022. As of November 2024, the project recycled
more than 583 tons of materials at cost savings of $813,000.
·
Completed the
transfer of spent nuclear fuel from wet to dry storage nine months ahead of
schedule – March 2023
·
Completed the
treatment and repackaging of more than 9,000 drums, completing the Sludge
Repackage Project at the Accelerated Retrieval Project VII facility and Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) – July 2023
·
Demolished four
waste retrieval enclosures at the Subsurface Disposal Area – May to October
2023
·
Began operations
at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) in April 2023 and treated more
than 228,000 gallons of sodium-bearing waste to date.
·
Completed a
yearly total of 189 offsite shipments of radioactive and hazardous waste for
treatment and disposal – September 2023
·
Began
construction on a new cell at the Idaho CERCLA Disposal Facility, which will
increase its overall capacity to 1.38 million cubic yards – September 2023
·
Sent 365
transuranic waste shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New
Mexico in the fiscal year that ended September 30 — the highest annual total for the ICP since fiscal year 2013, when the site sent 372 shipments to WIPP.
·
Sent more than 90
percent of the targeted wastes removed from the Subsurface Disposal Area
offsite for permanent disposal.
·
Demolished the
Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse (S1W) facility hot cell at the Naval
Reactors Facility (NRF) and continued making progress demolishing associated
reactor components
·
Completed the
demolition of all Accelerated Retrieval Project enclosures at the Subsurface
Disposal Area (SDA) three months ahead of schedule.