By By Sheila Blackmon/The Meridian Star
May 10, 2001
In a test run that will become common in the future, a truck loaded with low-level radioactive waste headed to New Mexico passed through the Meridian area without incident Tuesday night.
Lauderdale Emergency Management Agency Director Eddie Ivy said the truck crossed the state line into Mississippi at about 10 p.m. and passed safely through the state. LEMA officials escorted the truck through the Meridian area.
It was the first run of its kind through the state, he said, but will become common in the future.
This particular truck was carting waste from the Savannah River area in Georgia.
Ivy said LEMA officials escorted the truck through Meridian not because it posed a threat but because it allowed them to test their procedures.
Ivy said the containers undergo drop tests, extreme fire and heat tests and waterproof and watertight tests.
He said he doesn't know when, but sometime in the future three to four of the trucks will be traveling through the area each week. It will take 30 years to get all the waste from the various sites to the disposal site in New Mexico, he said.
Sheila Blackmon is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. Call her at 693-1551, ext. 3275, or e-mail her at sblackmon@themeridianstar.com.