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WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Nuclear Trash

Nuclear Trash

BARNWELL, S.C. (AP) WXOW19 26 Sept 08 – Low-level radioactive waste is piling up at hospitals and research labs around the country, and that’s worrying experts who fear some of it could be stolen by terrorists and turned into dirty bombs.

The items include radioactive seeds the size of a grain of rice used for treating cancer. There are also pencil-thin nuclear tubes used in industrial gauges. And there’s an array of small capsules and pellets with medical and industrial uses.

For years, truckloads of material from 36 states have been shipped to a landfill in rural South Carolina. There, it was all sealed in concrete and buried.

But effective July 1st, the state ended nearly all disposal of radioactive material at the landfill. That’s left it piling up at the labs, universities, hospitals and businesses where it’s used.

State and federal authorities says the waste is monitored, but they acknowledge checks are infrequent. Government documents show that thousands of items have been lost.

WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |Nuclear Trash

Tags: nuclear, antinuclear, radioactive, uranium

September 26, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment