Projects & Programs
Idaho National Laboratory Calcine Waste
The Idaho National Laboratory is exploring alternatives to construction of a vitrification plant to process high-level waste destined for disposal at the planned Yucca Mountain High-Level Waste Repository. Disposal of this waste in a calcine form would reduce the expense of waste treatment considerably, but the presence of nonradioactive metals subject to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act will require demonstration of acceptable impacts under this alternative to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. PNNL staff are adapting and using the Yucca Mountain Total System Performance Assessment model to stochastically simulate performance assessment for RCRA wastes that would be introduced by INL wastes in a calcine form.