By AP/KWMU
Hematite, MO – About two dozen homes in Hematite, Mo. (near Festus) are closer to losing their private water wells.
Westinghouse Electric Company says the 24 homes near its nuclear power plant should be connected to a public water supply by October.
The company is paying more than $2.2 million to connect the houses because those private wells are contaminated with the toxins of material buried near the plant in unlined pits.
A 1983 federal report said 60 pounds of highly fissionable uranium-235 was scattered throughout materials buried in about 40 unlined pits. Those pits are believed to be the source of the toxic chemicals.