May 25, 2001

Utilization of the Department’s Low-Level Waste Disposal Facilities

Since the creation of the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex, large amounts of low-level waste have been generated as a result of the processes which are part of the mission of the complex. To date, the Department has disposed of nearly 69 million cubic feet of this waste at its facilities, and over the next 70 years, plans to dispose of an additional 358 million cubic feet of low-level waste. In February 2000, the Department announced that it had developed a hierarchy of preferred options for disposal of the low-level waste.