| March 1, 2000 KYNF Demands a Halt to the Restart of DOE Waste Incinerator
Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Today, members of Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free (KYNF), citing a history of major environmental and safety problems, called on the Department of Energy to suspend the restart of a high-level radioactive waste incinerator, at the Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The DOE plans to restart the operation, also known as the New Waste Calcine Facility on March 8th and plans to operate it until the end of June to perform process tests.
"The risks of restarting this dangerous operation are unacceptably high for the residents, workers and the environment. DOE is simply taking advantage of a regulatory loophole to perform risky experiments that they won't be able to do after June, when new Clean Air Act standards take affect." said, Berte Hirschfield, President of Keep Yellowstone Nuclear Free, in a letter to Energy Secretary, Bill Richardson. " This facility has a disturbing history of accidents, environmental contamination and excessive worker exposures."
According to official records obtained from the Energy Department between 1991 and 1999:
There were at least 18 incidents where equipment, and filter failures, power outages, and poor conduct of operations resulted in excessive atmospheric releases of radioactive materials. In some cases there was widespread and severe contamination. For example, in April 1992 employees were forced to remain indoors after an accidental release from the main stack went beyond the plant boundary. Five to six acres of land had to be decontaminated.
In 1999, an explosion at the NCWF caused worker over exposures, and significant damage to the facility.
There were at least six fires at the facility. Inspectors found several instances where fire and radiation alarms were shut off.
There were at least 18 incidents where workers were needlessly exposed to radiation.
The restart of the high-level waste calcine facility comes at a time when the state of Idaho is deciding on environmental permits for the proposed Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), which will involve the incineration of plutonium wastes. The high-level radioactive incinerator operated in an interim status under a 1992 "Consent Order" with the US Environmetal Protection Agency and the State of Idaho. " The incineration of high-level radioactive wastes cannot even be remotely compared to the incineration of municipal wastes, which were subject to more stringent regulatory requirements over the past 18 years." says Ms. Hirschfield. " The lax regulation and troubling operation of the high-level radioactive waste incinerator at INEEL does not bode well for the proposed plutonium incinerator to be operated by British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL)." Ms. Hirschfield concluded, "There should be an independent review of the regulation and operation of the high-level waste incinerator by experts not affiliated with the DOE , before permits are granted for the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project."
Since the early 1960's the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory operated the high-level radioactive waste incineration or calcining facilities for the purpose of converting these waste to a solid and more stable form for storage. The liquid high-level waste was generated from the chemical separation of highly enriched uranium and other materials from spent naval reactor fuel at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant. The process involved a technology known as calcination. Calcination of high-level radioactive wastes involves the use of fluidized-bed combustion of kerosene to dry out nitric acid high-level wastes. In effect calcination is a technology to bake away the liquids from the waste. In doing so, this process involves the handling of extremely dangerous radioactive wastes Ü which in minuscule quantities can be lethal.
The current New Waste Calcine Facility (NWCF) was brought on line in 1982 and ran four "campaigns", the most recent being between May 1997 and May 1999. DOE wants to restart the calciner and run it through June of 2000, because the Department claims emission and waste characteristic data is needed to support an environmental permit application which DOE must submit to the State of Idaho in order to continue running the facility in the future.
Contact: Mary Mitchell at: (307) 733-8679
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