The supercompactor system operating as part of the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) has The hydraulic housing located on top of the supercompactor. Image credit: DOE-Fluor Idahoachieved 100,000 hours of operation and performance at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho site. More than 238,000 drums of waste debris were processed during the past 14 years, enabling the AMWTP to save an estimated 6,000 truck shipments that would have been needed to send nearly 43,000 cubic meters of waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M.

The supercompactor's hydraulic ram exerts four million pounds (1,800 tons) of force, reducing a 55-gal drum filled with solid waste to a 5-7 inch (13-18 cm) thick puck.

Earlier this year, crews with the Idaho Cleanup Project contractor Fluor Idaho retrieved the last of 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste stored at the AMWTP. The Cold War-era weapons waste had been shipped to Idaho from 1970 until the late 1980s and was covered with dirt on an asphalt pad. Following treatment and certification, all the waste will be sent out of the state for permanent disposal in an agreement with the State of Idaho.

Fluor Idaho, LLC, manages the Idaho Cleanup Project Core contract at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho site.