Company opens first radioactive waste repository in ND

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s oil industry no longer has to ship all its radioactive waste out of state. A waste disposal facility in McKenzie County has started operating. Trucks have hauled nearly 100,000 tons of the radioactive material each year to landfills in other states after various companies failed to win approval to establish a repository in North Dakota. One company, KT Enterprises, won approval this year to operate a slurry well. It’s not a landfill. Radioactive waste is sent underground at a facility near Watford City. The waste is processed with saltwater, another unwanted byproduct of oil and gas production, and the mixture is then injected down a well deep into rock formations.