Radioactive waste data removed from Tennessee state website

November 21, 2017 at 12:41 p.m. | Updated November 21, 2017 at 12:41 p.m.

by Associated Press

This Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017 photo provided by the U.S. Energy Department shows a shipment of radioactive waste leaving the Transuranic Waste Processing Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The shipment marked the first from Oak Ridge to the federal government's only underground nuclear waste repository in southern New Mexico in five years. (U.S. Energy Department via AP)
This Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017 photo provided by the U.S. Energy Department shows a shipment of radioactive waste leaving the Transuranic Waste Processing Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The shipment marked the first from Oak Ridge to the federal government's only underground nuclear waste repository in southern New Mexico in five years. (U.S. Energy Department via AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has removed data from its website about the amount of low-level radioactive waste going into landfills.

The Tennessean reports the information had been open to the public for years before the department said it is confidential.

Department spokesman Eric Ward says a 2007 state law cites the Atomic Energy Act and an agreement with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on what information to keep confidential.

Commission spokesman David McIntyre says he knows of no law or rule that makes confidential the location and waste quantity.

Ward said in a Friday email the department "is working toward a solution," and its intent is "to have the authority to soon begin providing that information again."

Low-level radioactive waste includes materials such as lab supplies or tools.

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