MANAGEMENT OF DEFENSE TRANSURANIC AND HIGH-LEVEL WASTE AT THE IDAHO NATIONAL ENGINEERING LABORATORY

The Idaho Chemical Processing Plant reprocesses Department of Energy nuclear fuels for recovery of uranium. Acidic high-level liquid wastes are temporarily stored in stainless steel tanks prior to solidification using a fluidized bed calcining process. After solidification, the granular solid waste is stored in near-surface engineered facilities. Approximately 22,000 m3 of liquid waste has been reduced to 3,000 m3 of solidified waste during 20 years of routine calcining operations. Research to immobilize the waste at minimum volume for repository disposal is in progress.