[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 34 (Monday, February 27, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     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.

                          ____________________