A major explosion at a radioactive waste dump in New Mexico could become one of the costliest nuclear accidents in US history, according to a new report. The February 2014 explosion at Waste Isolation Pilot Plant happened when a drum of nuclear waste burst open because workers filled it with the wrong brand of cat litter. It could cost as much as $2 billion to clean up the accident, which severely limited the United States’ ability to get rid of nuclear waste, the Los Angeles Times reported. There is no question the Energy Department has downplayed the significance of the accident,’ said Don Hancock, of the group Southwest Research and Information Center, to the Times. Federal officials have not been forthcoming in admitting that the explosion has caused long-term damage to the facility, which was designed to be a dumping ground for waste from World War II-era nuclear weapons, the newspaper reported.
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