Radioactive Waste Gets New Home

Radioactive waste that has been stored in tents at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory could move to a new storage building as early as Monday. The low-level waste has been stored in tents for more than a year. That´s because the Livermore lab and the federal government disagreed over safety issues at a 62 million dollar structure designed to store and treat the waste. In the tents are hundreds of 55-gallon drums holding liquid and solid wastes and clothing that was contaminated through exposure to highly radioactive materials. California Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher requested a report from the investigative arm of Congress and called the delay incredulous. Although the storage facility will finally be used, the adjacent waste treatment center likely won´t open until August of next year.