Fluor Idaho has presented Energy Department officials with its corrective action plan for preventing another radioactive-waste drum breach at an Idaho National Laboratory facility.
Details of the cleanup contractor’s approach have not been made public.
Energy Department officials in Idaho are expected to finish their adequacy review of the plan by Dec. 21. At dates yet to be determined, Fluor Idaho will provide comments on the DOE review and resume sludge repackaging at INL’s Waste Management Facility-1617. according to a monthly report issued Nov. 29 by the company to the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
Post-incident remediation and decontamination at the fabric filter building where the accident occurred are complete, Fluor Idaho said in the report to DEQ Hazardous Waste Unit Manager Natalie Creed.
Repackaging has been on hold at the site since the tops of four drums popped off in April, spilling much of the sludge onto the floor and walls of the facility.
The corrective action plan document will be provided to the state agency once DOE finishes its review and clears it for release. “Corrective actions have been developed that address the cause of the event and to prevent recurrence of this type of even in the future,” Fluor Idaho said in its monthly update.
Possible changes to the state’s waste permit affecting sludge work at the Waste Management Facility could also be discussed in the corrective action plan, Fluor Idaho said in the monthly report to DEQ. The changes would be designed to avoid similar problems in the future.
The contractor has been filing monthly reports since May on the April 11 incident in which four 55-gallon drums of radioactive sludges overheated to about 150 degrees Celsius and ejected their lids.
The repackaged drums had gone through steps to remove aerosol cans and other forbidden objects from sludge waste that had been buried at INL after being shipped years ago from the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site in Colorado. The drums had not yet been certified for shipment to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico.
The four breached drums had been opened up for “sorting” prior to repackaging, said DEQ Hazardous Waste Permitting Manage Brian English by email. “These drums would have been required to meet the new WIPP Waste Acceptance Criteria. At a minimum, the drums would have required an additional radiological assay plus any other testing necessary to meet the WIPP requirements.”
In a cause analysis issued in late October, Fluor concluded the breaches occurred after depleted uranium in the drums contacted air for the first time in about 40 years. The analysis also said the company should have taken greater care in processing and repackaging the waste and done more to identify potential combustion sources within the drums.
Fluor Idaho holds the five-year, $1.5 billion Idaho Cleanup Project contract, which runs through May 2021.
