Idaho Crews to Ensure Integrity of Waste Drums With Unique Technology

A view of 100-gallon transuranic waste drums awaiting shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant from the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project at the Idaho National Laboratory Site.

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho - The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) will employ an innovative technology to scan 6,000 legacy waste drums at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site to affirm their integrity, enabling their shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for permanent disposal and potentially saving taxpayers millions of dollars.

EM and contractor Idaho Environmental Coalition (IEC) are working with subcontractor Spectra Tech to develop, test and deploy ultrasonic testing technology that will use a robotic-arm scanner and high-tech software to determine the thickness of 100-gallon transuranic waste drums that have been in storage for four or more years at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP). The technology will ensure the drums meet the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) minimum thickness requirements of 0.053 inches, or about the thickness of automotive sheet metal.

The need for this technology stems from two 2022 incidents where 100-gallon drums containing supercompacted waste developed pinholes and leaked while in transit to WIPP. Both shipments were returned to the INL Site for removal of contents and decontamination of the TRUPACT-II shipping casks that held the drums.

Engineering studies indicated that drums greater than five years old have the potential to develop pinholes and breach during their transport. As a protective measure. IEC halted shipments of waste drums older than four years old, resulting in approximately 6,000 drums remaining in storage.

In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2023, IEC contracted Atlas to perform manual ultrasonic testing on a variety of 100-gallon containers with packaging dates greater than five years old. A total of 869 drums were tested at eight locations on the bottom of each drum. Approximately 60% of the drums tested passed DOT shipping requirements.

The estimated initial cost for the robotic ultrasonic testing is $150,000 for development and onsite demonstration by Spectra Tech, with a total cost of $1.2 million for completion of testing of all 6,000 containers. The schedule is four to six months for development and demonstration, with deployment to the field two months following demonstration. Total field time to complete ultrasonic testing of 6,000 containers is estimated at six months.

Using this technology can save taxpayers as much as $38 million over the cost of using standard waste boxes to "overpack" two 100-gallon drums prior to shipment for disposal.

The vast majority of 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic and low-level waste at AMWTP originated at the former weapons production facility known as the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, Colorado. Crews have retrieved, characterized, treated, certified and shipped about 73% of that inventory since 2000.

"We're very encouraged by the ultrasonic testing technology," said EM Idaho Project Manager Mark Brown. "The 6,000 drums represent a sizeable inventory of waste that remains at AMWTP. Being able to verify the integrity of these waste drums will ensure their safe transport to WIPP."

-Contributor: Erik Simpson