Radioactive and chemical contamination threaten both the public and the environment because of more than 370 deteriorating, unnecessary, polluted Department of Energy buildings — and the agency says it doesn’t have the money to make them safe.

The buildings on the list, many of which are old and haven’t been used in a while, include 1940s and ’50s-era buildings where nuclear research and work was performed, such as structures at the Y-12 plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., the one-time “secret city” that helped birth the Manhattan Project, and others at Los Alamos, N.M., and the Lawrence Livermore and Argonne national laboratories.

Recommended Stories

Companies agree to $44.5m settlement for falsely billing federal agencies

Energy Department acted illegally in transferring uranium to private firm USEC, GAO report says

Bonneville Power Administration abused federal hiring process to avoid hiring veterans