[CPEO-MEF] Idaho National Lab waste explosion

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Lab halts cleanup after explosion, small fire

Associated Press
Jackson Hole Star-Tribune (WY)
November 23, 2005

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho -- Work has been halted in an excavation pit at the
Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho after a 55-gallon drum of
hazardous waste exploded and started a small fire.

No one was hurt in the explosion and no contamination spread outside a
containment structure where drums of recently excavated waste were being
stored, officials said. The explosion occurred on the highly secure
compound northwest of Idaho Falls on Monday morning, but CH2M-WG Idaho,
the U.S. Department of Energy contractor responsible for the Idaho
Cleanup Project, did not announce the accident until Tuesday.

Officials said some of the material being excavated from the waste
burial site known as "Pit 4" may catch fire when it's exposed to air.

"We don't quite yet know what the cause of this incident was, but we
suspect it had something to do with the waste that was in the drum,"
said Amy Lientz of CH2M-WG Idaho. "We are taking this very seriously
because there are a lot of drums in the retrieval area."


http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2005/11/23/news/regional/9ab386b19b7108c7872570c1006a5332.txt

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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