Officials to Remove Radioactive Waste from Idaho Facility

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Officials in eastern Idaho say they've started a process to remove 5,700 cubic yards of highly radioactive waste from an eastern Idaho federal nuclear facility.

U.S Department of Energy Project Manager Mark Shaw says workers in July will build replica containers to test methods of removing the detergent-like powdered waste that's buried at the 890-square-mile site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory.

The Post Register reports that Shaw late last week told members of the Idaho National Laboratory Site Citizens Advisory Board that the plan is to drill holes in the containers and vacuum out the radioactive waste. The waste must be out of Idaho by 2035, according to a settlement the Energy Department reached with Idaho in 1995.