DOE recommends Battelle pay $412 thousand fine

The U.S. Department of Energy is proposing Battelle Energy Alliance pay a civil penalty of $412,500 for safety violations involving two radiological incidents which occurred at the Idaho National Laboratory in 2011.

A worker at the Hot Fuel Examination Facility suffered an elevated extremity dose to his right hand August 30th and 16 workers were contaminated in a plutonium contamination event at the Zero Power Physics Reactor facility at the INL Materials and Fuels Complex on November 8th.

INL released its study into the health impacts of those incidents Thursday.

The Preliminary Notice of Violation cites four “Level I” violations and one “Level III” violation of federal safety regulations. A level one violation involves actual or high potential for adverse impact on worker safety. A level three violation is less serous, but, left uncorrected, could lead to a more serious concern.

According to DOE, Battelle recognized improvement was needed in its work management and radiological control. All radiological work at the MFC site was stopped following the incident and gradually resumed over a three month review and modification period.