'Ticking time bombs': Fears mount for radioactive waste located in Milton's path
Briefly

"Placing vulnerable sites so close on major waterways that are at risk of damage from storms is a recipe for disaster," said Ragan Whitlock, a staff attorney at the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity.
Phosphogypsum waste contains radium, which decays to form radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Phosphogypsum may also contain toxic heavy metals and other carcinogens, such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and nickel.
That waste is even more troublesome because there is no easy way to dispose of it, leaving it to pile up and become an ever-growing target for such storms as the monster Milton.
A lesser storm, Hurricane Frances, which hit the state's eastern coast as a Category 2 and churned across central Florida in 2004, sent 65 million gallons of acidic wastewater from phosphogypsum stacks into nearby waterways, killing thousands of fish and other marine life.
Read at Fast Company
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