Conservationists Call for Investigation into Nuclear Waste Leak

(Columbia) -- Some conservation groups and lawmakers say information about a nuclear waste leak in Barnwell County was not properly disclosed.

The want an investigation of the Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Conservationists also want DHEC to release pollution records about Chem Nuclear's low-level atomic waste landfill.

Tritium levels in wells beneath the site have registered above federal standards for safe drinking water.

But DHEC says the material hasn't tainted drinking wells.

Lawmakers voted to close the site next year to all but three states, including South Carolina.

Officials say Chem Nuclear has been trying to reduce the tritium leaks by closing landfill trenches to keep rainwater out of burial pits.