After reviewing its options, cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho has decided to pay the $580,700 civil penalty issued by the Department of Energy over an April 2018 explosion at the Idaho National Laboratory where four 55-gallon drums overheated and blew off their lids spewing radioactive sludge.
“Fluor Idaho chose not to contest the findings” in the preliminary notice of violation and agreed to make the payment, Fluor Idaho spokesman Erik Simpson said in a Monday email.
The waste from the Accelerated Retrieval Project V event was safely repackaged and is awaiting certification and shipment offsite, Simpson said in the email.
“We have implemented all corrective actions, received approval from the state of Idaho regarding the closure of the facility, and safely resumed sludge drum treatment” at the nearby Accelerated Retrieval Project VII facility, Simpson said. Fluor Idaho has “safely and compliantly treated 329 drums” at the new retrieval project since then, the spokesman said.
The company had 30 days to decide whether to contest the fine issued Nov. 20 by the enforcement program within DOE’s Office of Enterprise Assessments over-pressurization event.
The repackaged waste involved in the 2018 accident was originally from the long-shuttered Rocky Flats pit-manufacturing facility in Colorado. The drums overheated and spewed radioactive sludge onto the walls and ceiling of a room within a fabric filter building at the site.
The accident happened late at night while no employees were inside the fabric filter building and no one was injured.
Fluor Idaho had moved the waste into new drums after checking for possible ignition sources. But hours after the transfer, the waste overheated. After various studies, the company and DOE incorporated increased safety vetting, such as keeping material from the old drums in trays longer to check for signs or potential overheating or sparking before repackaging the waste into new drums.
The fine would have amounted to more than $1 million but Fluor Idaho had a total $300,000 in fees deducted for the accident during fiscal 2019 and 2020, according to the DOE, which also reduced the potential fine by $200,000 because of the company’s corrective actions to date.
“To date, DEQ is satisfied with Fluor’s response to the April 2018 Drum Incident,” said Brian English, hazardous waste permits supervisor, at the state agency in a Tuesday email.
The Idaho DEQ believes Fluor has the capacity and ability to process this waste safely, English said. However, there might be some “outlier drums” that could require individual drum treatment plans and equipment, he added.
