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NM counties and cities try to lure nuke waste

Bill Ebbesen

Four government agencies in southeastern New Mexico are getting together to try to convince the federal government to put a high-level nuclear waste site in their region.

Eddy and Lea counties and the cities of Carlsbad and Hobbs say they've partnered with French nuclear conglomerate Areva to promote a storage site for waste from nuclear power plants.

The site they have in mind is midway between the two cities. It would be used as an interim storage site for nearly 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste now mainly stored at nuclear power plants.

The Albuquerque Journal reports the agencies announced this week they are negotiating with the French firm.

Federal action remains unclear. Two pieces of legislation aimed at the nuclear waste issue died in this year's gridlocked Congress.