Leak Discovered At Ineel Waste Facility

Engineers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory are working with state environmental regulators on what was described as a minor leak in a drain line at a storage building for highly radioactive nuclear waste.

Energy Department officials said the releases so far have posed no threat to people and had a negligible environmental impact.

The leak was discovered during testing of the drain line last week. The line had recently been cited by the state Division of Environmental Quality as being out of compliance because it was not double walled.

The test was conducted to determine the integrity of the single-walled line.

The line drained excess water from casks that high-level waste is transferred to from underwater storage in an aging facility at the INEEL. Officials said no hazardous material has drained through the line since 1989.