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Putonium Disposal The Department of Energy is announcing a two-step plan to get rid of the nation's stockpile of plutonium waste. About 50 tons of the highly radioactive material have accumulated during the making of atomic bombs, weapons that are now being dismantled. NPR's Richard Harris reports on the government's plan to bury part of the waste and to combine the rest of it in fuel used by commercial nuclear plants.

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Putonium Disposal

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Putonium Disposal

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The Department of Energy is announcing a two-step plan to get rid of the nation's stockpile of plutonium waste. About 50 tons of the highly radioactive material have accumulated during the making of atomic bombs, weapons that are now being dismantled. NPR's Richard Harris reports on the government's plan to bury part of the waste and to combine the rest of it in fuel used by commercial nuclear plants.