Harkin is also asking the Energy Department to disseminate its records. But no one is sure where they are. The problem is the plant was owned by the Army, but the nuclear weapons program was under control of the Atomic Energy Commission, which no longer exists, replaced by the Department of Energy. Harkin said the plant apparently was lost in the shuffle. An Army document says the Atomic Energy Commission cleaned up areas where nuclear weapons were produced when it left in 1975, but there are no records on the work.
Surveys have found low-level radiation near where the atomic work was done, the document says.
Plans call for removal of the contaminated soil. Harkin is not sure that's good enough. I want to make absolutely certain we don't have something buried out there.