US may want to keep Idaho nuclear waste plant running longer

BOISE — U.S. officials are considering extending the use of an eastern Idaho nuclear waste treatment facility beyond its scheduled closure this year so it can repackage radioactive waste brought in from other states before it’s sent to a permanent disposal site in New Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Plant at a site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory was originally set to stop operating after it finished treating waste from Idaho this year.

But the Energy Department is considering keeping the $500 million plant that employs about 600 workers running.

“The department has been looking at where to take waste from other DOE sites and treat it,” Energy Department spokesman Brad Bugger said last week. “Hanford has a very significant volume of waste that could be treated at Idaho.”

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