The Nation - News from June 27, 1985

The Department of Energy disclosed that 70 million pounds of radioactive uranium has been buried without any protective wrappings at six nuclear plants during the last 40 years. Another 1.2 million pounds of uranium was released into the air and water at the government uranium processing plants in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and in Ohio and Kentucky. Officials admit it is impossible to predict the future effect of the buried uranium on ground water. A department spokesman said the radioactive chips were not “high level material” and are only slightly more radioactive than uranium ore.