US acknowledges shipping Idaho radioactive waste to Nevada

Nuclear waste is stored in underground containers at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho...
Nuclear waste is stored in underground containers at the Idaho National Laboratory near Idaho Falls, Idaho, on May 11, 2015. The federal government is acknowledging it has shipped mixed radioactive waste from a nuclear-era cleanup site in Idaho to Nevada for disposal. In a statement Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, that followed a protest letter from U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, the U.S. Department of Energy said 13,625 cubic meters of material had been sent from a former dump at the Idaho National Laboratory to the Nevada National Security Site. (AP Photo/Keith Ridler, File)(Keith Ridler | AP)
Published: Jan. 12, 2022 at 4:23 PM PST
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LAS VEGAS (AP) - The federal government is acknowledging it has been shipping mixed radioactive waste from a nuclear cleanup site in Idaho to Nevada for disposal.

In a statement following a protest letter from U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, the Energy Department said about enough material to fill five Olympic-sized swimming pools has been sent since 2009 from a former dump at the Idaho National Laboratory to the Nevada National Security Site.

The Energy Department says the Nevada state Division of Environmental Protection participates in pre-disposal documentation and review of the material.

The state and federal government have clashed in the past over shipments of radioactive materials to the vast former government nuclear test site in Nevada.

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