Radioactive Soil Finally Leaves Idaho

The last of 38 rail cars of radioactively contaminated soil have been shipped from the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory to a licensed disposal site in Tooele County, Utah.

The soil taken to the Envirocare facility in Clive, Utah, about 65 miles west of Salt Lake City, between Aug. 17 and Oct. 6, was contaminated at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant and had been sitting in boxes at the INEL for four or five years, the U.S. Department of Energy said.

A total of 3,800 tons of INEL soil were taken to Envirocare, which is using waste from Idaho and other Energy Department sites to test a process that involves encapsulating the material in melted recycled plastic for disposal.

The Energy Department said the shipments marked the first time a significant amount of radioactive waste from the INEL was disposed of off the eastern Idaho site.

Officials said the soil was contaminated with small amounts of radioactivity as the result of maintenance, construction and environmental cleanup work at the INEL.