OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) — The Department of Energy is on the verge of shipping highly radioactive material from central Tennessee to a federal site north of Las Vegas.
The department's deputy press secretary Namrata Kolachalam tells the Knoxville News Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1EXcJsC ) a shipment of non-radioactive material left Oak Ridge National Laboratory Monday bound for the Nevada National Security Site.
The shipment was a test run for the actual operations, whose schedule officials will not discuss because of security concerns.
The plans had been delayed two years because of objections from Nevada officials, but the DOE says the issue has since been resolved after making numerous changes to the transportation and disposal plans.
The materials, which came from a World War II-era plant, have been designated by the Energy Department as low-level radioactive waste.