INEL Implementation of Waste Acceptance Criteria Under the Federal Facility Compliance Act

To comply with Section 302l(b) of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 USC 6901 et seq.) and the Federal Facility Compliance Act (P.L. I 02- 386), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has evaluated the entire inventory of mixed waste at 40 DOE and naval facilities throughout the United States. This evaluation has identified a significant lack of both treatment capability and capacity at a majority of the sites. The only sites with sufficient capability and capacity to treat DOE's mixed waste are the larger DOE facilities, such as the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The INEL has been identified as a site that has the potential to treat mixed waste for 20 DOE sites. The DOE Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID) and the State of Idaho have negotiated an agreement concerning the treatment of both INEL and off-site mixed wastes. The acceptance of off-site waste has been a major issue in these negotiations. In anticipation of this issue, the INEL imposed several assumptions on off-site mixed waste in its Proposed Site Treatment Plan (STP). The assumptions exist as specific obligations that must be met by the off-site DOE facility (generator and/or shipper) regarding transportation, storage and treatment, and eventual waste residue disposition. These assumptions will be addressed within the INEL 's Memorandum of Agreement with the off-site facilities.