Environmentalists Sue Energy Dept.

BOISE, Idaho - Environmentalist have sued the Department of Energy (news - web sites), contending water resources in three states could be threatened if the agency follows through on a proposal to abandon radioactive waste that has been buried in storage tanks.
The tanks, buried at sites in Idaho, Washington and South Carolina, held millions of gallons of liquid acid used to reprocess spent fuel rods until the late 1990s. The rods were bathed in the liquid acid, which extracted uranium, plutonium and other radioactive substances but left behind a highly radioactive stew of other metals.

The waste fluid was stored in the underground tanks. Although much of the fluid has been pumped out and processed into a more solid form, a residual sludge remains, coating their bottoms and sides.

The lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Boise, asks that the department not be allowed to abandon the tanks.