The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers estimates it will spend at least $350 million more over the next 10 years to dig up and haul away nuclear waste from a dump site about 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
The Army Corps halted the cleanup — originally estimated to cost $44.5 million — in May 2012 when crews discovered unanticipated amounts of "complex" materials, like uranium and plutonium.
The site was once owned by Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp., which operated a fuel plant for nuclear submarines nearby. NUMEC owned the site from 1957 until the 1980s. Babcock & Wilcox Co. most recently owned the land.
Through September, the Army Corps has already spent $62 million on the site.
Claims that pollution from the plant itself gave residents cancer has led to $92 million in legal settlements.
