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.
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.
