Fluor Idaho expects in September to finish decontamination operations at the Idaho National Laboratory site where four 55-gallon drums of radioactive waste overheated and ruptured on April 11.
The company also said, in a June 28 report on the incident to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, it should issue its final investigation findings in November, but no date has been set for resumption of waste repacking within Airlock 5 of the Accelerated Retrieval Project 5 facility.
The causal analysis of the event is being finalized, the Idaho Cleanup Project contractor reported. Fluor Idaho has said previously “a significant portion” of the potential 220 gallons of repackaged waste sludge spewed onto the floor after the drums overheated and blew their lids. More than 90 percent of the spilled material has been gathered up using a vacuum and brush and placed in new containers.
In addition to analyzing samples of the sludge, Fluor Idaho is also studying a drum within the retrieval area that did not overheat. Both analyses are part of the company’s efforts to determine what caused the overpressurization event.
Since the incident, crews have entered the airlock area about 50 times for decontamination work and take samples, according to the report. There continues to be no sign of contamination outside the building, Fluor Idaho said.
The company’s most recent report covers the period from May 25 through June 21.
The drums contained waste sludge shipped to INL decades ago from the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site in Colorado. The drums had not gone through the final characterization and certification process prior to shipment to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
As a result of the accident, the Senate’s fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act calls upon the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on repackaging of transuranic waste at the Idaho National Laboratory.
