Nukeplant may have sent waste to landfill

MIAMI, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- Waste from a Florida nuclear plant appears to have been shipped to landfills and sewage treatment plants for several years in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The New York Times reported Saturday documents have come to light in lawsuits filed by the parents of two boys diagnosed with cancer. The parents are seeking damages from Florida Power and Light, which operated the plant in St. Lucie County.

The documents claim radioactive waste from the plant that was shipped to ordinary landfills was 10 times as hot as waste being shipped to a disposal site for low-level nuclear waste.

A Florida Power and Light spokeswoman said a couple of shipments went to a landfill by mistake more than 20 years ago. She said the shipments were reported at the time.

"It's a 23-year-old event," Rachel Scott told the Times. "It was thoroughly investigated at the time by both the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Florida Department of Health, who determined that there was no health issue."

The plaintiffs claim contaminated mops and rags were rinsed out in a sink that employees thought drained into a radioactive disposal system. In fact, the sink connected to a municipal sewage treatment plant.