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“HONORING THE ADVANCED MIXED WASTE TREATMENT PROJECT'S CLEANUP MILESTONES” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E231 on Feb. 27, 2017.
The Department oversees energy policies and is involved in how the US handles nuclear programs. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department's misguided energy regulations have caused large losses to consumers for decades.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
HONORING THE ADVANCED MIXED WASTE TREATMENT PROJECT'S CLEANUP
MILESTONES
______
HON. MICHAEL K. SIMPSON
of idaho
in the house of representatives
Monday, February 27, 2017
Mr. SIMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project's (AMWTP) nearly 15-year effort to retrieve, treat, and remove legacy nuclear waste from the State of Idaho.
Since 2003, AMWTP has been the nation's premier transuranic radioactive waste processing facility. Operated by the U.S. Department of Energy, AMWTP was constructed during the Clinton Administration to meet the nation's obligations to treat radioactive transuranic waste left over from the Manhattan Project.
During the 1970s and 1980s, truckloads and rail cars of waste were shipped to Idaho primarily from the Energy Department's Rocky Flats Plant near Denver, Colorado. These shipments brought 65,000 cubic meters of clothing, machine parts, and tools contaminated by plutonium and housed in wooden and fiberglass boxes and metal drums to the Idaho desert. Over the years, the condition of these boxes and drums deteriorated significantly, making cleanup a challenging task. As outlined in the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement, AMWTP's mission, unique facilities, and skilled workforce were charged with characterizing, treating, processing, and removing from Idaho the single largest concentration of transuranic radioactive waste in the United States.
For 14 years, the workforce at AMWTP has prepared and sent more than 5,800 shipments of transuranic waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
(WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. This represents nearly half of all the waste disposed in that facility. At the same time, the workforce has accomplished this feat in a safe and compliant manner. The staff at AMWTP has also received and processed radioactive waste from 15 other Department of Energy sites, eliminating the need to build expensive, new processing plants.
Today, AMWTP and its workforce take another step in completing their mission, with 100 percent of the above-ground waste now retrieved and ready for characterization, treatment, and packaging, in anticipation of being removed from the State of Idaho for permanent, long-term disposal within WIPP. As a regional asset, AMWTP and its exclusive capabilities and experienced workforce remain a viable facility for future waste processing missions.
While challenges continue with cleaning up the remaining buried and liquid radioactive wastes in Idaho, the milestones met by the thousands of contract and federal workers in Idaho should not be forgotten. Their long-standing efforts have set the benchmark and proven to critics that promises can be met given enough time and support. Today, I can say with confidence and congratulations that the State of Idaho is better because of the AMWTP and its employees' commitment and service.
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