The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "radioactive material" ...
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Radioactive Waste Leaking into Ground Water
The Asbury Park Press found that millions of gallons of radioactive water have leaked from nuclear power plants in the U.S. since the 1970s, threatening water supplies in New Jersey and other states. But the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has never fined a violator. The Press also found that major leaks have increased in recent years, nearly all nuclear power plants have leaked radioactive titrium, most plants hvae had more than one titrium leak, and esseentially all plants have leaked or spilled radioactive material.
Tags: radioactive waste; power plant; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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Recycled Radiation
Radioactive materials are being found in common consumer items because radioactive devices used in manufacturing and medicine are often mixing with scrap metal for use in large varieties of other products. "Recycled Radiation" outlines the findings from the Nuclear Material Events Database.
Tags: radioactive; material; products; consumers; scrap; metal; recycled; exposure; manufacturing; medicine; Mexico; transport; oversight; disposal; waste;
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"Los Alamos"
Using documents and information from a whistleblower, this report details a list of security risks and potentially lethal radioactive hazards in and around the nation's premiere nuclear weapons laboratory.
Tags: nuclear material; radioactive hazards; whistleblower; security breach; University of California; Department of Energy; DOE
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Radioactive
This investigation uncovered just how easy it is to buy enough radioactive material in the former Soviet Union to make a dirty bomb. The investigation was focused on Georgia. The reporters found that radioactive materials were found in Georgia every year since the Russians left, that for $10,000 they could buy enough Cesium - 137 to make a bomb, and that security around the facilities for radioactive material is very lax. The president of Georia discussed his security concerns with the reporters.
Tags: radioactive; nuclear weapons; dirty bomb; sting operation; terrorism; Saakashvili
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Radioactive Water Flowed to Thousands of Homes
This series detailed how high levels of radium 226/228, known human carcinogens linked to bone and nasal cancers, contaminated public drinking water wells that provided water to thousands of people in Northwest Florida between 1996-2000. The public utility responsible for water safety resisted state efforts to clean the radioactive material and inform the public, because it cost too much money. The Utilities Authority conducted tapwater samples that measured high concentrations of radium coming out of fountains at an elementary school, regional airport, government offices, and the tourist welcome center, but the results of these samples were never made public.
Tags: radium; human carcinogens; bone cancer; nasal cancer; contaminated drinking water wells; radioactive material; Escambia County Utilities Authority; drinking water; Agrico Chemical Co. Superfund hazardous waste; U.S. Florida Department of Environmental protection; radium-tainted water; Escambia County Health Department; Pensacola Regional Airport; Santa Rosa Island Authority; Cordova Park Elementary School; Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water; American Agricultural Chemical Co.; U.S. Geological Survey; maximum contamination level; MCL; Northwest Florida Management District; water cleanup; Environmental Protection Agency; "limited action" cleanup DuPont; ConocoPhillips; Conoco Inc.; The Williams Co.; Freeport-McMoRan Inc.
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ABC News Special 9/11 -- Nuclear Smuggling Project
Broadcast on the anniversary of 9/11, an ABC investigation illustrates the threat of nuclear terrorism by showing how a shipment of radioactive material can easily pass through the U.S. customs. The segment shows correspondent Brian Ross traveling with a suitcase of depleted uranium across Eastern Europe, which he later shipped from Istanbul, Turkey, to the United States. The test material cleared the U.S. customs and was delivered to a warehouse at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Tags: nuclear weapons; radiation; radioactive material; nuclear energy; safety; security; health; Osama bin Laden; al Qaida; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Caution, Nuclear Waste Ahead
This article looks at legislation in Congress that would have nuclear power plants across the country send their waste to sites in Nevada and the danger of transporting the highly hazardous waste on public roads and train tracks. The two main dangers are radiation exposure to nearby drivers and the risk of an accident. A huge hike in shipments could make the possibility of a disaster more likely.
Tags: nuclear waste; legislation; nuclear industry; Nevada Test Site; radioactive material; nuclear fuel; Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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Fallout
SF Weekly reports on the Hunters Point Shipyard, which is being turned over to the city of San Francisco in 2002. The shipyard used to house the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, which handled -- or mishandled, as SF Weekly discovered -- "nearly every kind of radioactive material known to man." The investigation found that tons of radioactive materials had been dumped into San Francisco Bay, radioactive fuel had been burned, discharging its smoke into the atmosphere, radioactive scrap metal was sold to private companies and unsuitable radioactive containers were dumped at a site 30 miles from the city. At the time the series was published the Navy had promised to release a study of the site, but had not. Following the first two parts, the third part of Davis' "Fallout" series on radiological materials buried at Hunters Point, the San Francisco Navy shipyard. This installment shows that a supposedly exhaustive 634-page Navy report fails to tell the real history of radiation at the shipyard.
Tags: CD-ROM; U.S. Navy; Hunters Point Shipyard; Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory; radioactive dumping; pollution; hazardous waste; nuclear experiments; toxic materials; environment; clean-up San Francisco bay; veterans; Cold War
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Workers unwittingly take home toxins
U.S.A. Today examines workplace hazards affecting people who have never set foot in the places that are poisoning them. "Employees endanger their loved ones when invisible but poisonous substances cling to their belongings," the investigation finds. The report is based on information from a database, which shows that employees in more than 35 states have unwittingly transported toxins away from work sites. Instances of known or possible take-home contamination have occurred in at least 40 industry, the story reveals, and in the past 20 years there have been more than 1,000 probable victims of exposure. The reporter points out that families remain at risk, because the health hazard is overlooked, undocumented and widely ignored.
Tags: employment; hazardous waste; mercury; cancer; lead; contamination; radioactive material; pesticides; public health: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); nuclear energy
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Cold War Poison: The Paducah Legacy
The Louisville Courier-Journal investigates the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, a uranium processing plant built during the Cold War. In 1999, workers from the plant filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that they were exposed to harmful radioactive materials. The Courier-Journal obtained memos from plant administrators that shows they knew about possible hazards, but ruled them to be "acceptable risks."
Tags: Paducah; Kentucky; Cold War; Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant; nuclear weapons; uranium; plutonium; heath; environment; danger