XML 15 R55.htm IDEA: XBRL DOCUMENT v2.4.1.9
Commitments and Contingencies - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Plaintiff
Cases
site
Dec. 31, 2014
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]    
Number of cases administratively dismissed or inactive 100us-gaap_LossContingencyClaimsSettledAndDismissedNumber  
Liable periods twenty-year  
Litigation settlement amount $ 1,150,000,000us-gaap_LitigationSettlementAmount  
Accrued environmental obligations approximately 109,835,000us-gaap_AccrualForEnvironmentalLossContingencies 110,015,000us-gaap_AccrualForEnvironmentalLossContingencies
Sites associated with remediation 47nl_NumberOfEnvironmentalRemediationSitesWithReasonablyEstimableCosts  
Remediation and related matters possible to estimate costs $ 149,000,000us-gaap_LossContingencyRangeOfPossibleLossMaximum  
Currently not able to estimate a range of costs to sites 5nl_NumberOfEnvironmentalRemediationSitesWithoutReasonablyEstimableCosts  
Number of cases pending 166us-gaap_LossContingencyPendingClaimsNumber  
Number of Plaintiffs Involved in Pending Cases 712us-gaap_LossContingencyNumberOfPlaintiffs  
Other Litigation    
Loss Contingencies [Line Items]    
Number of cases administratively dismissed or inactive 8,692us-gaap_LossContingencyClaimsSettledAndDismissedNumber
/ us-gaap_LitigationStatusAxis
= nl_OtherLitigationMember