Dive Brief:

• A nuclear waste site in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, has been found to contain a greater amount of uranium and plutonium than initially thought. It is uncertain how much uranium and plutonium is in the area, but costs to clean up the site are estimated at $500 million.
• This discovery has now led to questions about federal oversight of the waste disposed. According to a report issued by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, this realization will complicate the cleanup of the site. Records kept regarding the site were incomplete, with many reports missing altogether.  
• A substantial portion of the  waste was generated while processing manufacturing fuel for commercial power plants and nuclear submarines. 

Dive Insight:

Some information about the site was classified in 2011, so it remains unclear as to the amount of nuclear waste that is buried at this site. There is also no clear answer as to what materials are actually buried. The Army Corps of Engineers are writing a proposal for how to deal with the dangerous substances, and are expected to contract a remediation company in January of 2015, with excavation estimated to begin by 2016. The project is expected to take a decade to clean.