The state of Idaho has now levied $8.6 million in penalties against the Energy Department for failure to treat 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing liquid radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory.
That is the accrued amount as of July 31, Natalie Creed, hazardous waste bureau chief with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said by email.
The fines were initially issued at the rate of $3,600 per day beginning in 2015, then raised to $6,000 daily on March 31, 2017.
A 1995 settlement agreement between Idaho, DOE, and the Navy set timelines for removing out-of-state nuclear waste from Idaho. A series of noncompliance orders stemming from the settlement give Idaho authority to penalize the Energy Department for failing to meet its commitments.
Once operational, the Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) will convert 900,000 gallons of sodium-bearing liquid radioactive and hazardous waste left over from decades of defense-related work into a stable form for disposal. The Energy Department now expects the IWTU, initially scheduled for operation in 2012, to start up in fall 2021.
As recently as late 2019, DOE was anticipating a 2020 startup, but that has been delayed again, in part by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the sodium-bearing tanks are emptied, the penalty would be reduced accordingly, Creed said, adding DOE has indicated it might request penalty relief once treatment commences.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management continues to retire much of the debt by financing or performing supplemental environmental projects for the state. What other measures have been used or are planned?
To date, DOE has agreed to satisfy $7.86 million of the assessed amount largely through the supplemental environmental projects.
The state DEQ on June 3 approved five new projects intended to retire the $2.19 million worth of penalties assessed between March 31, 2019, and March 30, 2020, Creed said.
The largest item in the latest tranche has DOE providing the Idaho Department of Water Resources with $832,000 toward the Raft River Basin Hydrogeologic Investigation Project. The money will help underwrite a three-year study on the environmental traits of the Raft River and its connection with the Eastern Snake River. The research should help pave the way for future improvements to the Idaho National Laboratory groundwater flow model and local aquifers.
The Energy Department will also supply $499,460 to the Nature Conservancy Crooked Creek and Silver Creek Tributaries Restoration Project. The project was proposed to the federal agency by the nongovernmental Nature Conservancy, which will do the work that includes water quality and riparian restoration in Blane and Clark counties north and west of the Idaho National Laboratory. The project will restore almost 1 mile of Silver Creek tributaries, upper Stalker Creek and lower Loving Creek.
The Energy Department will also provide:
- $388,431 to the Eastern Idaho Public Health District and the Southeastern Idaho Public Health District to help cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. The money will go toward coronavirus testing, medical supplies, and personal protective equipment.
- $257,309 of a $454,000 groundwater conservation project for the city of Ammon that strives to encourage groundwater conservation through use of untreated surface water for irrigation and by planting drought tolerant crops. A publicly accessible park will be developed around a municipal water tank.
- $212,800 to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Upper Snake Region Riparian and Wetland Restoration projects. The initiative includes water quality and wetland restoration work in Clark, Custer, and Jefferson counties near INL.
