Four 55-gallon drums of radioactive waste ejected their lids due to excessive pressure on April 11 at the Accelerated Retrieval Project No. 5 (ARP 5) facility, Idaho Site cleanup contractor Flour Idaho confirmed this week.
The Energy Department and the contractor had both indicated last week at least one drum, and possibly more, had been breached.
A three-person crew, wearing sealed radiological suits with supplied air, entered the Energy Department’s Radioactive Waste Management Complex facility on April 19 to take a closer look at the area where the drums overheated.
“Once inside, they took smear samples for radiological analysis, reset constant air monitors within the area and inspected the affected waste drum and nearby drums,” Fluor Idaho said in a press release. “In addition to the 55-gallon drum that experienced the pressure excursion, the crew also noted that three other drums had their lids ejected due to excessive pressure.”
Plans are being made for additional trips inside the ARP-5 facility to gather more information, which can be used by an analysis team to determine what caused the event. Fluor Idaho has until April 27 to file a written report about the incident with the state, according to Natalie Creed, hazardous waste unit manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. The status of the report was unknown by deadline for Weapons Complex Monitor.
The Fluor Idaho release did not indicate if DOE or the contractor have a plan yet on what to do with the breached drums.
The waste in question was probably sent to the Idaho National Laboratory in the late 1960s from the Rocky Flats Plant near Denver. The breached waste drums had been initially processed April 11, several hours before the incident that evening. None of the drums had completed the final waste characterization review required for shipment to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico.
Following the drum breach, DOE suspended INL transuranic waste shipments to WIPP for several days as a precautionary measure. DOE Carlsbad Field Office Manager Todd Shrader said last week WIPP also inspected recently received drums from INL following the incident but found no concerns.
