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Plan Calls For Operations To Resume At Nuke Dump In 2016

energy.gov

Some operations at the federal government's troubled nuclear waste repository in southern New Mexico could resume by the end of 2016 under a plan approved by U.S. Energy Department officials.

The agency's field office in Carlsbad, New Mexico, announced the approval Thursday.

The plan covers recovery activities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, baseline operations and capital projects that need to be done before the underground facility reopens.

The cleanup of tons of Cold War-era waste from defense sites across the country has been on hold since February 2014 when a radiation leak forced the facility's indefinite closure.

DOE officials say it could be a couple of weeks before details of the new plan are made public. They still have to brief members of Congress.

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