The Department of Energy cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory continues to find more old drums of transuranic waste with leaks and corrosion problems at the lab’s Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project, according to a safety board.
The issue was cited in a regular report on Idaho National Laboratory (INL) remediation work by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB). The report is dated March 7 and was recently posted on the DNFSB website.
Staff from DOE and the Jacobs-led contractor, Idaho Environmental Coalition “continue to find additional drums with leaks and corrosion in storage” at the treatment project, according to DNFSB. To help ensure worker safety, the contractor has brought in an industrial hygienist full-time to “augment the radiological control technician that has already been supporting this work.”
“The industrial hygienist is present to ensure workers are not exposed to harmful organic vapors from any drums with breaches,” according to the DNFSB staff report. Contractor staff also use portable continuous air monitors in cases where airborne contamination could result from a corroded drum, according to the report.
The contractor is overpacking problem repackaged sludge drums to reduce safety concerns.
Workers must ensure the drums are safe to ship to DOE’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for underground disposal. The condition of older drums at Idaho is something DNFSB and the contractor have been keeping an eye on.
In 2018, Idaho was the site of an explosion where four 55-gallon drums overheated and blew off their lids spewing radioactive sludge.