Well that monitors giant Idaho aquifer back in service


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IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy says a deep well used to monitor contamination in a giant Idaho aquifer is back in service after a three-year absence.

Fluor Idaho in a statement Tuesday says scientists determined contamination discovered in the 1,110-foot (340-meter) well was caused by an industrial solvent in the well's tubing fluid and was not in the groundwater.

The company says it removed the solvent with an innovative device.

Fluor Idaho is a contractor that manages radioactive pollution cleanup at the Energy Department's 890-square-mile (2,305-square-kilometer) site in eastern Idaho that includes the Idaho National Laboratory.

The U.S. Geological Survey monitors some 175 wells in the area to track radioactive contamination and other pollutants in the Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer below the site.

Geological Survey scientists Roy Bartholomay was unavailable for comment Wednesday due to the federal government shutdown.

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