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In Waste Storage, It’s Piketon Vs. U.S. Dept. Of Energy
By: Associated Press
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PIKETON, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio village is at odds with the U.S. Department of Energy over plans to store radioactive waste from the cleanup of a Cold War-era uranium plant.
Piketon officials met with state Environmental Protection Agency representatives last month to discuss a federal plan to create an on-site disposal facility for low-level radioactive waste at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in southern Ohio. The Chillicothe Gazette reports that a third-party environmental report commissioned by the village cites concerns about cracked bedrock beneath the proposed location.
The village’s report says fractures could undermine the structural integrity of the landfill. An Energy Department project manager says the department remains confident in an earlier analysis that concludes the planned waste site would be safe.