33 1963 Waste Calcining Facility Spent nuclear fuel reprocessing at the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant produced highly radioactive liquid wastes. Rather than store it in tanks, AEC opted in Idaho to try a solidification process. In 1955, development began for a heating process — fluidized-bed calcination — that would solidify the waste into a granular, free-flowing solid. On Dec. 23, 1963, the first Waste Calcining Facility and the adjacent Calcined Solids Storage Facility began operations, revolutionizing the management of liquid radioactive waste.The Waste Calcining Facility operated from December 1963 to March 1981 and converted more than 4 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste into 77,300 cubic feet of calcined solids stored in stainless steel bins. A New Waste Calcining Facility operated from August 1982 through May 2000 and converted 3,642,000 gallons of liquid waste.