Defense Radioactive Waste and the Flow of Money

Defense Radioactive Waste and the Flow of Money

Out here in Idaho we are stuck with 900,000 gallons of defense radioactive waste.  Assorted cleanup contractors are well paid to stabilize that stuff, however it remains unchanged and it will likely stay that way for a long time.  Well over $600 million has been spent and payments continue at $50 million per year according to recent press reports.  All this flow of money continues even though laboratory scale and larger pilot scale operations have been consistently discouraging. There have been endless reviews of the project; all this has been going on for well over ten years. 

It would take deep investigations to expose this project that our Department of Energy (DOE) calls the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU).  Following is from a fraction of the references that the public may find via GOOGLE.

1. From the report by Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board (DNFSB), January 24, 2007.  

The Board has no significant safety issues with the project at this time (Critical Decision 2/3B). The final design, however, is progressing and there remain a number of items the Board believes must be addressed before the approval of final design and construction of the project.

Further, DOE convened an expert panel early in preliminary design to confirm that the design of the facility could accommodate this mission. The Board is encouraged by the project’s commitment to address this panel’s recommendations.

2. From the expert panel cited by DNSFB, September 11, 2006.

Recommendation 1.Thorough documentation, data reduction and analysis of the results from pilot-scale testing carried out to date should be completed as soon as possible and to the extent practical before initiating the planned next stage of pilot-scale testing. Sufficient time and resources should be provided to complete thorough documentation and analysis of all pilot-scale testing. … A schedule should be developed for future pilot-scale testing, evaluation and results documentation that includes integration of lessons learned in the full-scale design.

3. From the report by DNSFB, May 23, 2014.

Staff Conclusion.  The staff review team believes that the scope and depth of the engineering actions required to address the TSR violation, PISA, design changes, and transitions to steam and non-radioactive simulant feeds indicate a lack of assurance that the facility can safely proceed with nuclear operations.

Therefore, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 2286b(d), the Board requests a report and briefing within 30 days, on DOE's evaluation of the need for additional independent assessment at the completion of IWTU startup testing and prior to the introduction of radioactive waste feed.

4. From the 30 day report by DOE, June 20 , 2014.

… DOE agrees that IWTU will benefit from an additional independent assessment at the completion of startup testing and prior to the introduction of radioactive waste feed as described in the enclosed report.

Today there is no facility that has the capability to stabilize those 900,000 gallons of defense radioactive waste.  It is evident that hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on the final design and construction of the IWTU.  And, even under the surveillance of the DNFSB, all of that money flowed without addressing:

Recommendation 1.Thorough documentation, data reduction and analysis of the results from pilot-scale testing carried out to date should be completed as soon as possible and to the extent practical before initiating the planned next stage of pilot-scale testing. Sufficient time and resources should be provided to complete thorough documentation and analysis of all pilot-scale testing. … A schedule should be developed for future pilot-scale testing, evaluation and results documentation that includes integration of lessons learned in the full-scale design.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Robert Leyse lives in Sun Valley