to break loose and spray the sodium with water, causing an explosion. Argon gas was used to douse the flames, but the building had to be closed for two days. The system was finally ready for restart in July 1970. By October it had reached the original 200,000 kW heat level. By this time, the plant had cost $132 million. In January 1971 the one-year operational license was up for renewal and there were concerns it might be abandoned. To help, the AEC agreed to stop charging for the fuel, which was being prepared by AEC contractors. They renewed the operational license until June 1971, and then 1972. The AEC was still interested in the continued development of the breeder concept, but Fermi 1 was now being seen as a white elephant. By this time the decision had been made to build an experimental breeder at Oak Ridge, which was being referred to as "the first demonstration breeder reactor in the United States.", completely ignoring Fermi. Ultimately, this reactor, at the Clinch River Nuclear Site, was abandoned in-place. Shutdown By 1972 the original fuel was reaching its burnup limit and would have to be replaced with fresh fuel. On 27 August 1972, the AEC issued a "Denial of Application for License Extension and Order Suspending Operations". In November, the PRDC accepted the decision and began shutting down the plant. Shutting down the reactor involved the removal of all of the fuel and sodium coolant. The radioactive sodium was collected in 55-gallon drums with the intention to use that in the Clinch River reactor. Fike Chemical agreed to take the non-radioactive sodium at its plant in Nitro, West Virginia. They simply dumped it in old World War One bunkers that were partially open to the weather. Rain leaked into one of the bunkers, igniting the sodium and causing the town to shelter-in-place while it was put out. More sodium was found in similar conditions when the EPA learned Fike had abandoned the site, and it became a notorious superfund site. Disposal of the rest of the low-level waste materials was put out for contract, but none of the four hazardous waste burial sites in the US would take it and the AEC began considering opening a new site of their own. The cancellation of Clinch River shortly thereafter presented another problem as there was no nowhere to ship the radioactive sodium,