The SDA, a 97-acre landfill located inside the RWMC, has been used for the disposal of low-level, hazardous and transuranic wastes. The SDA contains pits and trenches that have been used to store radioactive and hazardous waste for more than 50 years. Most of the transuranic waste buried in the SDA was generated during nuclear weapons production activities at the Rocky Flats Plant and was packaged in drums and boxes prior to being shipped to Idaho.
Beginning in 2005, the cleanup contractor began removing plutonium-contaminated filters, graphite molds, sludges containing solvents and oxidized (depleted) uranium from seven pits to protect the environment, especially the Snake River Plain Aquifer. In 2008, DOE, the state of Idaho, and the Environmental Protection Agency signed a Record of Decision (ROD) to exhume and repackage 7,485 cubic meters of targeted waste from a combined area of 5.69 acres within the pit areas. Targeted waste retrieved, packaged, and certified for disposal will ultimately be shipped out of Idaho. Nine individual excavation projects have been completed since 2005, most notably Pit 9. Exhumation within the ninth enclosure was completed in December 2021.
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