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EPA Probes Handling of Early Atomic Waste, Wash Post Says
EPA Probes Handling of Early Atomic Waste, Wash Post Says
Washington, April 10 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has started a criminal investigation into whether contractors
hired by the Army Corps of Engineers to clean up a nuclear waste site
outside Buffalo, New York, mishandled dangerous material and possibly
changed data to disguise radioactive waste as less dangerous garbage,
the Washington Post reported. California regulators are also
investigating whether 2,000 tons of debris from the site were dumped
illegally in the San Joaquin Valley, and on Wednesday a U.S. Senate
committee will hold a hearing on the Corps' decision to dispose in
landfills debris used in the country's effort to build the first
atomic bomb, the newspaper said. The Corps says its practices are
safe because the waste is confined to an industrial location and is
generally low-level uranium, thorium and radium, though leading
radiation experts caution that even low-level waste can increase
cancer risks, the Post said.
The House of Representatives last month approved a bill that would
provide for management of spent nuclear fuel at the nation's 103
nuclear power plants.
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