Testimony indicated that Chem Waste had been unable to burn these particular illegal radioactive wastes because its incinerator had been shut down by an explosion in early 1991. He said enemies of the United States might glean valuable information about U.S. atomic weapons by studying the wastes his staff had been shipping illegally to Chem Waste and Rollins and the others. All the wastes his company burned were safe, he said, including the illegal radioactive ones. This is the old averaging trick, commonly used in risk assessments. The problem of radioactive waste gets worse every time anyone looks.
Every state has some.
This includes every place EPA could figure out where radioactivity has ever been present. Not all these sites are contaminated in a serious way but most are and will require cleanup. This estimate is almost certainly low. In addition, much radioactivity from oil and gas wells has been dumped into shallow pits. In some cases, oil companies have donated old oil pipes to schools and municipalities, which have made jungle gyms, swing sets and parking lot barriers out of them.