Radiation in oil and gas waste is becoming a costly logistical problem for Pennsylvania fracking operators, leading some companies to dilute the waste with non-radioactive materials before sending it to local landfills, the Post-Gazette reports.
“In the first half of this year, 421 trucks carrying oil and gas waste tripped radiation alarms at Pennsylvania landfills,” Litvak writes. “All but two of those trucks eventually dumped their waste at those landfills.” Last year, 1,015 trucks had radioactive loads, and “only five were subsequently asked to find another, more suitable, destination for low-level radioactive waste.”
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