Workers are back on the job building a waste treatment plant in Richland, Washington after radioactive soil was found on the site. Credit: AP/Ted S. WarrenThough likely somewhat reluctant, workers returned to a jobsite in Richland, Washington Thursday after radioactive soil was found there.
According to the Associated Press, the radioactive soil was found, strangely, under a bird’s nest at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Work was halted on a waste treatment plant being built there.
Upon discovering the radioactive soil, 130 workers were examined to make sure they weren’t contaminated. Luckily none of them were and the amount of soil and the contamination of the soil was small.
The contaminated areas on the site were cleaned up. The AP reported that the treatment plant will treat 56 million gallons of highly radioactive and toxic waste. Waste is not being pumped there now and the contaminated soil was found during a routine survey being done.
