Small Step Made In Pit 9 Cleanup

After tens of millions of dollars and not a shovelful of dirt turned, crews at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory soon will begin the cleanup of one of Idaho’s most ominous environmental threats.

INEEL contractor Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Co. will receive a sophisticated sonic vibrating drilling rig this month and not long thereafter, engineers will begin taking core samples from the Pit 9 waste dump. That move is a baby step made giant by years of contract disputes.

After an expensive dalliance with an untested environmental restoration technique, engineers have returned to the old-fashioned method of cleaning up a giant mess in stages, adjusting the project along the way.