Nuclear Waste Could Be Headed To Nevada

RENO, Nev. (AP) – A shipment of 9,400 drums of depleted uranium oxide from a cleanup site in South Carolina could be headed to Nevada.

State officials say the U.S. Department of Energy is considering a plan to send the radioactive waste from South Carolina to the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site.

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection spokesman Vinson Guthreau says the state didn’t make a request to store the waste and it’s DOE’s decision about where to send it.

DOE spokeswoman Jen Stutsman says her agency is considering its options for disposal of the waste but hasn’t reached a decision.

Stutsman also declined to comment on a published report that DOE wants to permanently dispose of the material at the Nevada site about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.)