DOE News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 1999

The Department of Energy (DOE) today released its Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project Final Environmental Impact Statement (AMWTP FEIS).

"Our completion of this environmental study is a major step forward in the cleanup of legacy waste at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), as well as a major step forward in meeting the terms of our Settlement Agreement with the state of Idaho," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management James Owendoff.

In the 1995 Settlement Agreement with the state of Idaho and the Navy, as reflected in an ensuing court order, the DOE agreed it would develop a treatment facility for the INEEL's mixed waste. This final environmental impact statement examines the potential impacts to the environment of a proposed new waste treatment facility at the laboratory and addresses public comments received last summer.

The final document also identifies the preferred alternative, which is to implement the proposal by BNFL, Inc., a private company, to construct and operate the facility. Under this alternative, the Department would implement a contract with BNFL, Inc. to construct and operate a private-sector facility to treat transuranic waste, alpha-contaminated low-level mixed waste and low-level mixed waste.

The Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project would retrieve, characterize, treat, and package for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico or another appropriate facility approximately 65,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste generated and retrievably stored from post-1970 nuclear defense production activities. It consists of items such as gloves, equipment, tools, and sludge contaminated with plutonium, other radionuclides, and hazardous chemicals.

The Department awarded BNFL, Inc. the contract in December 1996. The Department will decide later this year if it will execute the next phases of the contract with BNFL, Inc. If the Department decides to proceed with construction and operation of the treatment facility, under the terms of the privatized contract arrangement, the Department would pay fixed unit prices for treated waste. BNFL, Inc. would independently finance capital costs for construction. Under this privatized contract, the Department anticipates saving an estimated $670 million in treatment costs when compared to the costs the Department would have incurred if the INEEL management and operating contractor were to perform this work.

Copies of the AMWTP FEIS are located in DOE Reading Rooms and at public and university libraries in Idaho. For more information about this environmental study, for library locations, or to request a copy of the document, call the AMWTP EIS hotline at 1-800-320-4549.

--INEEL--

Media Contact: Kathy Whitaker, (208) 526-1062, whitakkb@inel.gov

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* U.S. Department of Energy * Idaho Operations Office * 785 DOE Place * Idaho Falls, ID 83401-1562 *