The plant is supposed to produce liquid wastes encased in a radiation-absorbing glass and wrapped in stainless steel for long-term storage.
"There was a big, polluting chemical plant in Linden that sent its liquid wastes to pits in Carteret," Mr. Reiman said.
Urostomy, the surgical formation of a new channel for urine and liquid wastes following the removal of the bladder or ureters.
The science behind them is already used in developing countries: solid and liquid wastes are separated, reducing smells and the risk of disease.
The kraft process of papermaking produces a variety of liquid wastes that are sources of such valuable chemicals as turpentine, methyl alcohol, dimethyl sulfide, ethyl alcohol, and acetone.
An army of nearly 1,000 scientists and engineers has spent 18 years and $1.5 billion so far on a cleanup involving custom-designed robots and remote-controlled ovens that bake liquid wastes into solid glass cylinders.
Liquid wastes are being expelled via a tube leading out of the case; solid waste details have been murky, although at one point there was talk of adult-sized diapers.
The Energy Department said today that it had failed in its attempt to save money on nuclear waste cleanup by privatizing the task of solidifying highly radioactive liquid wastes at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington State.
Don't get caught putting household trash in a street-corner can: No person shall deposit household or commercial refuse, incinerator residue or ashes, or liquid wastes in an open mesh litter basket placed on the streets by the department or other person.
For example, in the 1980's the department started work on a processing plant in Aiken, S.C., for solidifying liquid wastes, without figuring out how it would get wastes out of storage tanks and into the plant without producing flammable gases.
Now Bill Richardson, the energy secretary, finally losing patience, has fired the contractor in charge of the most delicate task at Hanford: stabilising highly radioactive liquid wastes stored in 177 rapidly decaying concrete tanks.The contractor was BNFL Inc, a subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels, which is already in a load of trouble at home.
