The Energy Department has as of Tuesday been penalized more than $2.37 million by the state of Idaho over the ongoing failure to start operating a liquid waste treatment facility at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
The Integrated Waste Treatment Unit (IWTU) was built to process 900,000 gallons of liquid sodium-bearing waste produced during Cold War-era spent fuel reprocessing at INL. Largely finished in 2012, the facility has not worked as intended in testing, and DOE continues to evaluate the system’s technologies. The department currently estimates the facility will be operational by late summer 2018.
For now, though, DOE is working with the state to address what is now a $6,000 daily fine by funding another round of supplemental environmental projects (SEPs) in the state, Natalie Creed, hazardous waste compliance manager for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said Tuesday.
The latest round of supplemental environmental projects will likely be agreed upon in the first half of 2018, Creed said. They would cover daily penalties assessed from March 31 of this year through the end of March 2018.
DOE and former INL cleanup contractor CH2M-WG Idaho jointly paid an initial $648,000 fine, with DOE meeting its commitment by funding four SEPs in the state. The cleanup contract is now held by Fluor.
At the end of July, the Idaho DEQ approved a DOE plan for six more environmental projects to satisfy the $648,000 in penalties that were assessed from Oct. 1, 2016 through March 30, 2017.
The state has been fining DOE at a rate of $6,000 per day since March 31, for a total through Sept. 26 of $1.08 million, Creed said.
