WASHINGTON — The operator of a Florida nuclear plant appears to
have shipped radioactive waste to ordinary landfills, municipal
sewage treatment plants and some unknown locations in the 1970s
and early 1980s, according to internal documents and government
records obtained in lawsuits. Florida Power & Light Co. said
that in 1982 it had mistakenly made a shipment to a landfill,
but the documents appear to show numerous shipments to multiple
locations. In addition, while the company conducted a survey and
cleanup in the one known location, it found only one kind of
radioactive material, and nuclear experts involved in the
lawsuits say there must have been other isotopes for which no
tests were conducted. The overall level of contamination is
difficult to determine. Plant workers used a sink to wash mops,
rags and other heavily contaminated materials, thinking that the
drain was connected to the plant's radioactive waste system, but
instead it drained into a sanitary sewage system, according to
the documents. The