West Texas Nuclear Cleanup: $120 Million

AMARILLO, Texas (AP) _ A federal report says the cost to clean up soil and groundwater contamination at Pantex, the nation’s only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility, will top $120 million.

A report released Monday by the Environmental Protection Agency said Pantex has completed building various systems designed to clean up the site. It was added as a Superfund site in 1994.

High explosives and chromium have been discovered at elevated levels on private land southeast of Pantex in an upper-level aquifer not normally used for drinking water purposes. Solvent contamination also has been reported in groundwater monitoring wells at the plant site.

Traces of contamination have been found in the Ogallala aquifer which is a major regional water source. But repeated samplings turned up no additional contamination.

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