Los Alamos National Laboratory has a new super-size facility for repackaging nuclear waste such as used contaminated protective clothing, glassware and other equipment.
The facility is a 110-foot-by-48-foot structure that's built inside a dome once used to house waste containers.
The facility will be used to remove contaminated items originating from past operations at Los Alamos and repackage the contaminated material for shipment to permanent disposal facilities.
Some of the waste boxes that are stored above ground and are now being emptied are 40 feet long, and a lab administrator says the lab needed a repackaging facility big enough to handle containers that large.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.