In May 2002, DOE, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and the Environmental Protection Agency signed a letter of intent formalizing an agreement to pursue accelerated risk reduction and cleanup at the INEEL. The letter provides the foundation for a collaborative plan for the accelerated cleanup of the INEEL.
The Department of Energy-Idaho Operations Office and its contractors have developed a draft Performance Management Plan to propose a significantly improved approach to our cleanup mission and the way we do business.
The vision for accelerating cleanup of the INEEL results in two objectives: 1) Risk reduction and continued protection of the Snake River Plain Aquifer, and 2) Consolidation of Environmental Management activities and reinvestment of savings into cleanup.
Nine strategic initiatives were developed around these objectives to accelerate cleanup. They include:
- Accelerate Tank Farm Closure
- Accelerate High-level Waste Calcine Removal from Idaho
- Accelerate Consolidation of Spent Nuclear Fuel to the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center
- Accelerate Off-site Shipments of Transuranic Waste Stored in the Transuranic Waste Storage Area
- Accelerate Remediation of Miscellaneous Contaminated Areas
- Eliminate On-Site Treatment and Disposal of Low-Level and Mixed Low-Level Waste
- Transfer all EM-Managed Special Nuclear Material Off-site
- Remediate Buried Waste in the Radioactive Waste Management Complex
- Accelerate Consolidation of INEEL Facilities and Reduce Footprint
At our 2020 end state in the plan, some activities will continue: shipment of spent nuclear fuel to a repository; retrieval, treatment, packaging and shipment of calcine high-level waste to a repository, and final dismantlement of remaining EM buildings. These activities will be complete by 2035. Even with these continuing activities, the cleanup costs can be reduced by up to $19 billion, and the cleanup schedule can be completed decades earlier.