Idaho resumes radioactive waste shipments to New Mexico

KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Shipments of nuclear waste from the U.S. Department of Energy’s site in eastern Idaho to a nuclear waste repository in New Mexico have resumed following three episodes that caused New Mexico officials to suspend them. An Energy Department official told Idaho officials Wednesday that the New Mexico Environment Department last week gave the OK for shipments from the site that includes the Idaho National Laboratory to resume to the department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The New Mexico agency suspended the shipments Sept. 14. Officials say a drum leaking liquid in April caused a partial evacuation at the plant, but no contamination occurred.