Plutonium Found in Ground Water Casts Doubt on Safety of Waste Site

Traces of plutonium from a test blast in the Nevada desert migrated nearly a mile through ground water over a 30-year period, according to researchers from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Experts said the amount of radioactivity that can move this way is too small to endanger the public, but the U.S. Department of Energy is reassessing the risks of the government’s proposed waste site beneath Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

Until recently, it was commonly believed that significant amounts of plutonium would not move through ground water because the element dissolves at a very low rate and attaches strongly to any rocks it touches. But a study published in today’s issue of the journal Nature confirmed suspicions that small amounts of plutonium can hitch a ride on particles of debris suspended in water.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II