After a transuranic waste fire forced the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory out of service on Dec. 21, the facility has now largely returned to operations, the Department of Energy confirmed Friday.
“AMWTP Treatment Facility Operations have resumed following the scheduled holiday curtailment of operations with the exception of the north boxline where the fire occurred. An investigation of the fire continues,” a DOE spokesperson said by email.
The Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Facility is used to characterize and process transuranic waste from the Idaho National Laboratory and other DOE sites, which is then shipped DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. TRU waste generally has a half-life of more than 20 years.
A small fire was reported at 1:12 p.m. local time at the site located within the lab’s Radioactive Waste Management Complex. “There were no injuries and monitoring verified that there was no release to the environment,” DOE said its email statement.
“During transuranic waste drum repackaging activities in the north box line, a 55-gallon drum of transuranic waste was tipped into a metal sorting tray,” the agency added. “When a bag containing waste was opened, a fire ignited within the waste tray. The installed extinguishing system functioned as designed however it did not completely suppress the flames.”
The fire was officially declared extinguished by the Idaho National Laboratory fire department shortly after 4 p.m. The fire department let the remaining flames burn themselves out, DOE said.
As a precaution, employees with INL cleanup contractor Fluor Idaho were evacuated from the treatment facility and workers at the Radioactive Waste Management Complex were told to stay inside during the incident.
Notice of the fire was posted online this week in a DOE Operating Experience Report. No further details were available at press time.
