Workers safely evacuated a building at the Idaho National Laboratory Friday during a fire at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project.
The Department of Energy offered few details about the incident, but the Idaho State Journal and other outlets confirmed a small fire was contained by 8 p.m. and declared out by 8:45 p.m. Damage was reported to be minor, and INL representatives said measurements did not show increased levels of radiation at the site.
The facility at the Eastern Idaho nuclear reservation prepares transuranic defense waste for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico. Originally stored in drums or boxes, the waste handled by the AMWTP originated at Colorado's Rocky Flats weapons plant and other DOE sites. A consortium formed by Babcock & Wilcox, URS Corp. and EnergySolutions holds a $417 million contract to operate the AMWTP through 2015.