MANAGEMENT OF TRU WASTE AT THE IDAHO ENGINEERING LABORATORY

Since 1970, defense transuranic (TRU) waste has been placed into 20-year retrievable storage at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex (RWMC) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). A major objective of the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Waste Mangement Program is to remove all retrievably stored TRU waste from the INEL. The INEL is currently developing, designing and constructing two facilities to demonstrate methods for retrieving, processing, and/ or certifying the INEL stored TRU waste for shipment to, and experimental disposal demonstrations at, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Waste retrieval, nondestructive examination of waste containers, and certification of waste containers for shipment to the WIPP will be performed at the stored Waste Examination Pilot Plant (SWEPP). Waste containers that cannot be certified at SWEPP will be treated at the Process Experimental Pilot Plant (PREPP). The primary objective of PREPP is to demonstrate full-scale methods for processing the uncertifiable INEL stored TRU waste into a form that meets the waste acceptance criteria at the WIPP. The initial experimental processing method will consist of lowspeed shredding for waste container opening and waste sizing, a rotary kiln for waste incineration, and waste immobilization by cementing.