Post by Logan on Feb 25, 2016 23:57:33 GMT -6
Low-level radioactive waste illegally dumped in Estill landfill, state official says
An estimated 1,600 to 1,800 tons of low-level radioactive waste was illegally dumped in an Estill County landfill, and now state officials are warning other solid-waste operators not to accept any of the material.
The waste was generated in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and then shipped to Kentucky for disposal, said Tony Hatton, director of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management.
The waste was not generated from a nuclear plant, Hatton said. Rather, it is a common, naturally occurring material resulting from oil and gas-drilling activities. When it is processed to recover brine, the radionuclides present in the soil and rocks become concentrated.
“This is not high-level waste ... but it certainly should not have been disposed in this landfill,” Hatton said Thursday. “I don’t know if the landfill was aware of it or not.”
Read more here: www.kentucky.com/news/state/article62496922.html
An estimated 1,600 to 1,800 tons of low-level radioactive waste was illegally dumped in an Estill County landfill, and now state officials are warning other solid-waste operators not to accept any of the material.
The waste was generated in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and then shipped to Kentucky for disposal, said Tony Hatton, director of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management.
The waste was not generated from a nuclear plant, Hatton said. Rather, it is a common, naturally occurring material resulting from oil and gas-drilling activities. When it is processed to recover brine, the radionuclides present in the soil and rocks become concentrated.
“This is not high-level waste ... but it certainly should not have been disposed in this landfill,” Hatton said Thursday. “I don’t know if the landfill was aware of it or not.”
Read more here: www.kentucky.com/news/state/article62496922.html