DOE Reportedly Won?t Contest Idaho Fine Over Delayed Waste Treatment

The Department of Energy reportedly does not plan to contest fines levied by Idaho regulators for delays in processing the remaining liquid waste at the Idaho site. Last week, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality began penalizing DOE a total of $3,600 per day for failing to empty three tanks at the Idaho site of waste by a Dec. 31, 2014, deadline. The penalties are set to increase to a total of $6,000 per day beginning July 1. “Part of the process is that we need to be held accountable, and that’s what they did with regard to the notice of violation,” Richard Provencher, Manager of DOE’s Idaho Operations Office, was quoted as saying late last week in a Jan. 9 article published by the Idaho Falls Post-Register newspaper. “We need to work through that, and at the same time stay focused on safely treating that sodium-bearing waste.”