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Senators Seek Funds For New Mexico Nuclear Waste Site

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM)

  Members of the state's congressional delegation are seeking an additional $113 million to help fund ongoing recovery efforts at the federal government's troubled nuclear waste repository in southern New Mexico.

U.S Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich outlined their request Tuesday in a letter to the chairman and ranking member of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee.

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant has been closed since February, following a fire and then a radiological leak from a canister of waste shipped from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Cleaning up WIPP and resuming full operations could take years. The cost has been estimated at more than $500 million.

The U.S. Department of Energy is finalizing a report on the cause of the radiation release. That's expected before the end of the year.

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