Report: Nuke dump fire preventable

Published



ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Federal investigators have uncovered a series of shortcomings in training, emergency response and oversight at the troubled southeastern New Mexico nuclear waste dump where a truck caught fire and 17 workers were recently contaminated by a radiation leak.

A report released Friday on the investigation into the first of back-to-back accidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant says a Feb. 5 truck blaze apparently was ignited by a buildup of oil and other combustible materials that should have been regularly cleaned off the vehicle.

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