Fluor Idaho has spent roughly $7 million to date on expenses related to the April 11 accident in which four drums of radioactive waste sludge overheated and blew off their lids at the Idaho National Laboratory.
Spokesman Erik Simpson provided the figure in an Dec. 7 email responding to questions about Fluor Idaho’s efforts to prevent a similar episode in the future. It is perhaps the first time the lab’s cleanup contractor has publicly noted the cost of its cleanup and investigation into the incident. Neither a breakdown of the spending so far, or an estimate on total anticipated spending was immediately available.
Energy Department officials are expected around Dec. 21 to complete their review of Fluor Idaho’s recently submitted a post-incident corrective action plan. After DOE is through vetting the plan, and it is submitted to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, Fluor Idaho will eventually be authorized to restart sludge repackaging at INL’s Waste Management Facility-1617. No date has been determined for the work to resume.
The sludge waste has been buried at INL for years after being shipped in from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant near Denver.
Fluor concluded, in a causal report made public in late October, the incident occurred after depleted uranium in the drums contacted air for the first time in decades. Much of the material ended up on the floors and walls of the facility and was subsequently cleaned up.
The analysis found greater care should have been taken in processing and repackaging the waste, while trying to detect potential combustion sources in the sludge.
No one was hurt in the incident in part because it happened after 10 p.m. when there were no employees inside the fabric filter building where the drums were located.
Fluor Idaho holds the five-year, $1.5 billion Idaho Cleanup Project Contract, which extends through May 2021.
