IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy has asked Idaho officials for an extension of one year on deadlines involving cleanup of high-level radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho.

    The Post Register reports (http://bit.ly/UwPiLx ) in a story published Wednesday that the federal agency failed to meet a September deadline to begin treating the waste at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit, and it will also miss a Dec. 31 deadline to submit a schedule for processing the waste.

    The 900,000 gallons of waste came from processing spent nuclear fuel from U.S. Navy ships. Plans call for converting the waste into a solid form and removing it from the INL. Currently it’s stored in tanks at the INL’s Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center.

    “We’ve had technical issues” with the treatment of this waste, DOE spokesman Brad Bugger said. “We will eventually complete these milestones.”

    Officials said the delay was caused because nonradioactive material clogged a filter at the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit.

    The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality is taking public comments on the request for the extension.

    “We recognize that this is a mixed-waste radioactive unit, it’s challenging to complete the process,” said Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Brian Monson.

    Missing the deadlines means the state could start imposing fines of $10,000 a day, though Monson said no decision has been made on that.

    “We’re very hopeful that the facility is going to get up and running,” Monson said. “That’s what everybody is looking for.”

    Because the extension request is for a year or more, it automatically triggered the public comment period in Idaho.

    “We remain optimistic that the extension will be granted,” Bugger said.