Nuclear waste heads to final resting place

SANTA FE, N.M., June 3 (UPI) -- Higher-dose nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project and the Cold War is headed for the first time to a special facility in Carlsbad, New Mexico, officials say.

A spokesman for the Los Alamos National Laboratory says the initial truckload of waste material left Los Alamos Tuesday afternoon for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad, The New Mexican reports.

"It's a big step forward in our whole cleanup process," said Los Alamos spokesman Fred de Sousa.

De Sousa said the remote-handled transuranic waste consists of plutonium and other radioactive elements that are heavier than uranium.

The first shipment contains the equivalent of three, 55-gallon drums.

Most of the waste Los Alamos is sending to Carlsbad consists of things like equipment, tools, clothing and gloves used during bomb-making activities.

De Sousa said this summer Los Alamos is planning to send three to four shipments per week to Carlsbad.