Idaho nuclear waste retrieval complete, underway since 2003

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho – Work to clear radioactive waste from the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project near Idaho Falls is complete.

The Post Register reported that last week, contractor Fluor Idaho retrieved the last box of radioactive materials that had been stored at the facility. The project to dig out the decades-old waste has been underway since 2003.

Gov. Butch Otter on Thursday congratulated workers for their completion of the process. In all, 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste stored in hundreds of thousands of containers had to be moved out of the facility.

Recently retrieved waste now awaits treatment at the plant. The waste containers will be opened, their contents sorted and compacted before they will be shipped to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.