Railcars loaded with 6,700 tons of radioactive waste will roll across the Treasure Valley this week, the cargo destined for a remote site south of Boise on a sagebrush-dotted plateau near the Snake River.
And it won't be the first time.
This scenario has occurred regularly over the past several years. The site - Idaho's only public hazardous waste dump - has received more than 1 million tons of radioactive materials from the federal government during the past five years.
The US Ecology facility west of Grand View in Owyhee County is one of only 18 commercial facilities in the country permitted to bury radioactive or other hazardous waste.
Treating and storing waste can be a financially lucrative endeavor.
In 2007, the Grand View facility received 800,000 tons of government and industrial hazardous waste from 37 states, with New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Missouri topping the hazardous waste suppliers.
Boise-based American Ecology, US Ecology's parent company, reported revenue last year of $165.5 million with gross profit of $45.5 million. American Ecology also owns hazardous waste disposal sites in Nevada, Texas and Washington.
But company officials say the more money American Ecology makes, the more the state of Idaho benefits.
According to a 2006 economic impact analysis by economist Don Reading, American Ecology's annual economic contribution in Idaho is $51 million in taxes, payroll and direct and indirect spending. The company paid $1.4 million in state taxes in 2005.
The Grand View facility is Owyhee County's largest property tax payer and employer.
"US Ecology Idaho currently employs 88 people between our disposal facility in Owyhee County, and our rail transfer facility in Elmore County," said Chad Hyslop, American Ecology spokesman.
The operation may be lucrative, but the risks outweigh the benefits, said Andrea Shipley, director of the Snake River Alliance, a nuclear watchdog group.
"Contaminated waste can no longer be cloaked as economic development," Shipley said. "It is very dangerous The only solution is prevention" - dropping nuclear altogether and converting to clean, renewable energy sources.
KUWAIT TO IDAHO
The shipment now en route to Idaho is from Kuwait.
In 1991, a fire at the U.S. Army Camp Doha ignited military vehicles and munitions containing depleted uranium used in armor-piercing shells. The shell fragments were removed and disposed in the United States by the U.S. Army in 2005. This incoming shipment contains the remaining 6,700 tons of lightly contaminated soil the fragments were removed from.
The Kuwait Ministry of Defense contracted with MKM Engineers of Texas to package and transport the waste to the United States. MKM subcontracted with American Ecology to store the waste. Hyslop would not disclose how much American Ecology was paid for the service. But he said the Idaho-bound waste has very low levels of depleted uranium. It contains 10 parts, called picocuries, per gram on average. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has permitted US Ecology to accept depleted uranium with up to 169 parts.
DEQ, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and US Ecology have been working closely since September to ensure compliant shipment and receipt of the Camp Doha waste, said Brian Monson, DEQ's hazardous waste program manager.
Despite careful planning, US Ecology and DEQ learned at the last minute of a slight change in the waste's content.
Just as the ship was approaching port in Longview, Wash., on April 21, the Army reported the radioactive waste also may be contaminated with lead.
"At the 11th hour, the Army notified US Ecology that additional testing revealed what may be a concentration of lead in the waste," according to Monson. US Ecology is permitted to accept lead-contaminated waste, "so it is a paperwork issue, not a disposal issue," Monson said.
Hyslop said the transport packaging - bags inside steel shipping containers like those you see on barges and trains - is appropriate for both hazardous and radioactive material, so the recent lead-contaminated classification does not change the way the material will be handled, only its labeling.
The contaminated sand will be off-loaded at a rail transfer facility near Simco Road south of Boise. Containers will remain sealed until they arrive at the Grand View facility, at which time DEQ's radiation health physicist will oversee receipt of and disposal of the waste.
HOW DID THE DUMP END UP HERE?
During the Cold War, the vast desert of Owyhee County was home to Titan intercontinental ballistic missiles aimed at the Soviet Union.
The military built three missile sites in the early 1960s, each within 45 miles of Mountain Home Air Force Base. The silos were built for Titan missiles armed with nuclear warheads. The federal government sold the sites after they were decommissioned in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A private company purchased the Grand View missile site and began using the empty silos for waste disposal.
Envirosafe bought the site in 1981. That company quickly recorded violations - more than 33 between 1983 and 1994 - and accumulated fines of more than $200,000. It was cited for dumping liquid hazardous waste directly into the landfill and allowing an enormous backlog of unprocessed drums to build up on the property. Envirosafe stopped using the missile silos for storage and began using lined pits.
American Ecology purchased the facility in 2001 and renamed it US Ecology Idaho.
The facility has had no EPA or DEQ violations since, Hyslop said.
Monson did not have immediate access to all inspection records, but he said he could not recall any violations.
"They have been very good to work with," Monson said.
A DEQ radiation health physicist works permanently at the the Grand View facility. And DEQ hazardous waste inspectors conduct monthly compliance inspections, which include evaluating records and observing waste operations.
All wastes received and disposed of at US Ecology's Grand View facility are placed in DEQ-approved triple-lined disposal cells designed to keep the waste from leaching into the soil. The facility also includes groundwater monitoring and detection systems.
The 1,000-acre site is located about three miles south of the Snake River, but Monson said a geological study completed in the mid-1990s by hydrologists found that there's no danger of waste contaminating the river.
"It's remote, and it has exceptional geology," Hyslop said. "There's 3,000 feet of clays and shales between the site and the aquifer. That's one of the reasons they located the missiles there, and it makes it a great place for waste disposal."
Cynthia Sewell: 377-6428
