The Department of Energy (DOE) has signaled its intentions to shutter the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP), a facility located at DOE’s Idaho Cleanup Site.
AMWTP processes transuranic (TRU) waste currently stored in the desert site west of Idaho Falls and ships the waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, NM. The facility will close after all TRU waste shipments have been completed; waste currently on-site is expected to be processed around the middle of 2019.
"The Department of Energy analyzed the feasibility of extending the AMWTP mission to treat waste from other DOE sites, and concluded it would not be cost-effective," said DOE spokesman Tim Jackson. "Therefore, upon completion of the mission, DOE will initiate closure activities in accordance with regulatory permits and the existing Fluor Idaho contract. Buildings and equipment to characterize, certify, store, and ship treated
transuranic and mixed-low-level radioactive waste to off-site disposal facilities will remain in use until their respective missions are completed."
The facility currently employs approximately 700 workers. As the mission for AMWTP comes to a close, the first wave of layoffs is expected to impact up to 330 workers, with more expected as activity winds down.
The decision not to extend the mission of AMWTP was given at an all-employee meeting on December 4, ECA sources report. DOE has not release a formal press release or notice detailing the decision.
U.S. Representative Mike Simpson (R-ID), chairman of the House Energy and Water appropriations subcommittee, requested in spring of this year that DOE prepare a report on the economics behind the decision to expand AMWTP’s mission.
"It is a difficult thing to know that you are working yourself out of a job every day, but that is the unfortunate nature of cleanup work," Simpson said in an email Thursday, the Post Register reports. "The
workers at AMWTP have done this with dedication, persistence, and an impeccable safety record. I am grateful to the DOE for seriously considering extending the AMWTP mission, and we are all disappointed that DOE’s analysis found that it would not be economically viable to continue to operate the facility. I hope in the coming days DOE will provide the people of southeast Idaho sufficient information on how it came to this conclusion. I also want to express my deep gratitude to the workers at
AMWTP for their service to Idaho and the nation."
“A decision of this magnitude—one affecting the lives of so many local citizens—should not be made and executed without a strong business-case analysis and the data to back it up,” Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper stated. “The AMWTP staff have performed excellent work and though the employees working with cleanup missions always know they are working themselves out of a job, this was not the future originally envisioned for the
facility. One could reason that closure is premature as AMWTP was built with excess capacity so as to be able to handle and package waste from other parts of the DOE complex. As a taxpayer, it is hard to accept that closure is the right decision when the facility still has the trifecta—capacity, talent and longevity. This is precisely why the DOE’s multi-year study and analysis is so important.”
“I plan to review the report to better understand the ‘why’ behind the decision,” said Mayor Casper. “In the meantime, my office is fully supporting efforts aimed at placement, retraining, counseling—all to ensure that affected employees do not struggle unnecessarily as they set out to find their next position.”
