Radioactive Debris Found Outside Plant, Officials Confirm

Federal officials confirmed that a radioactive black ooze found seeping outside a Kentucky uranium enrichment plant led workers to a burial ground for radioactive debris.

Contract workers chanced upon the material near an unused sanitary landfill at the Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Paducah, Ky., the Washington Post reported Sunday. The workers found the ooze July 15 while preparing to install wells to monitor another possible contamination site near the landfill, which closed in 1996.

The workers dug beneath a tar-like liquid and turned up what appeared to be bits of tar paper and asphalt shingles.

Not until three weeks later, after further excavation, did plant officials learn the material was contaminated, the newspaper said. Radioactivity readings were almost nine times higher than the plant’s “action level,” which would trigger immediate action to seal contaminated areas inside the plant.

Energy Department officials fenced off the site and reported the discovery to Kentucky’s environmental regulators.