LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Regulators have approved allowing depleted uranium to be buried at a West Texas nuclear waste dump site.
Company spokesman Chuck McDonald on Wednesday said the state’s environmental commissioners approved the amendment to the license held by Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists. The site is in Andrews County.
The amendment also lets the company triple the facility’s capacity of low-level radioactive waste it gets from dozens of states and reduces by $50 million the money it’s required to have available to fund potential liability.
McDonald says the depleted uranium is classified as low-level and will come from federal energy facilities. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of enriched uranium that fuels nuclear power plants
Experts say the substance gets more radioactive as time passes and if disposed of improperly could pose health risks.
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