| Mission — The disposal cell provides long-term isolation and management of waste from the former U. S. Atomic Energy Commission Uranium Feed Materials Plant and the former U. S. Department of the Army Ordnance Works.
Cell Design — The disposal cell constructed at the Weldon Spring site has been designed to deter the migration of contaminants and to remain stable for 1,000 years. To achieve this goal the following factors were considered:
- Exposed surfaces engineered to resist long-term erosion potential and a precipitation event greater than has occurred in the recorded history of the region.
- Side slopes and waste placement methods designed to withstand a Maximum Credible Earthquake (MCE) that considered the New Madrid fault system earthquake potential.
- A geographic location at least one mile from the nearest known ground trace of a capable fault, and a general siting with no capable faults within a 10 mile radius appearing to have experienced movement in the past 8,000 years.
- Located in a geologically stable area with no significant potential for catastrophic collapse due to voids in the soil or bedrock.
The main waste volumes are as follows (grouped into the main categories and slightly rounded):
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Soil, soil-like fine aggregates, treated sludges (soil-like also): ~1,180,000 cubic yards; or 79.5% of the waste (it includes ~13,000 cy of treated residual sludges)
- Grout (mainly chemically stabilized & solidified contaminated sludge): ~194,200 cubic yards; or 13% of the waste (it includes 5700 cy of grouted brine)
- Concrete/Rubble: ~85,200 cubic yards or some 6%
- Wood: ~1100 cubic yards
- Metals: ~13,000 cubic yards
- Other (boxes, liners, containers, High Efficiency Particle Air (HEPA) filters, etc): ~9,000 cubic yards
The last three amount to some 1.5% of the total.
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