Innovative Battery Manufacturing Facilities Construction management consultancy for building innovative battery manufacturing facilities in the United States. Bechtel is at the forefront of constructing innovative battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S. Our expert team ensures compliance with local codes and…
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Projects
During the 1970s and 1980s, radioactive waste was sent to Idaho during the 1970s and 1980s from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver, Colorado. The weapons were produced during the Cold War.
In the mid-1990s, with the Cold War over, the DOE committed to the citizens of Idaho to safely treat, package, and ship the 65,000 cubic meters of waste off for disposal –with the ultimate goal of protecting people and the environment.
This took place at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project.
Bechtel and partner BWX Technologies managed and operated the AMWTP—the DOE’s most advanced radioactive waste treatment facility at the time—in Idaho Falls, Idaho, from 2005 to 2011. The facility retrieved, identified, treated, packaged, and shipped the “transuranic” waste (so named because it’s contaminated with elements higher than uranium on the periodic table, mostly plutonium) for permanent storage.
The waste, stored in large boxes and drums, included industrial debris such as rags, work clothing, machine parts, and tools—as well as soil and sludge—contaminated with transuranic radioactive elements, primarily plutonium. Most of the waste also was contaminated with hazardous chemicals.
The centerpiece of the AMWTP was a large, hydraulic super-compactor that could compress 55-gallon drums of waste down to a 5-inch puck. This saved space at the national repository for transuranic waste in New Mexico, and drastically reduced the number of truck trips needed to ship the waste.
Partnering with DOE and the Idaho-based workforce, the Bechtel-led team:
