Cylinder leaks gas at INEEL, no injuries

ARCO, Idaho — Emergency crews were monitoring an accidental release of anhydrous hydrofluoric gas at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory site west of Idaho Falls.

The leak occurred at the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center, south of State Highway 26.

The site’s fire department had stopped the leak from a gas cylinder, and there were no injuries to six workers nearby when the leak happened, according to an employee who answered the INEEL media information telephone line but refused to give his name.

The employee said the released chemical is common in home rust removers.

It was not known how much gas escaped into the atmosphere.

A prepared statement by the INEEL described the leak as a “small, unknown quantity of substance” and reported that emergency monitoring after the release found no residual material in the air.

The cylinders were 40 years old and located in a pit. More work removing additional cylinders was expected to continue over the summer, the agency statement said.