New Mexico frustrated with slow cleanup of radioactive waste

  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — There’s growing frustration among New Mexico lawmakers and environmental regulators about the U.S. government’s slow pace in cleaning up contamination from decades of nuclear research and bomb-making at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The officials are concerned about taking a backseat to other states, saying legal action might be New Mexico’s only leverage against the U.S. Energy Department. A federal official told lawmakers that since January, only five shipments of waste had been sent from Los Alamos to the government's underground repository. Meanwhile, the Idaho National Laboratory is sending two to three waste shipments a week as part of the nation's multibillion-dollar cleanup program for Cold War-era waste.