Lawyer: Nuke Waste Put Community at Risk

[sintax]

Lawyer: Nuke Waste Put Community at Risk


Friday August 12, 2005 10:16 AM

By JILL BARTON

Associated Press Writer

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - An attorney claims that errors one of Florida's biggest electric utilities made in handling nuclear waste caused brain cancer in at least two children and may have put an entire community at risk.

Attorney Nancy La Vista said the illnesses stem from Florida Power & Light's daily shipments of thousands of gallons of radioactive sludge from a St. Lucie nuclear plant to undocumented locations in the late 1970s.

One of the boys, 11-year-old Zachary Finestone, was diagnosed with brain cancer in March 2000. The other boy, Ashton Lowe, had brain cancer when he died in May 2001 at age 13. La Vista is representing their families in civil lawsuits that could begin early next year.

``Our cancer experts say these children were exposed to radiation,'' she said. ``The community needs to be concerned.''

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-5205331,00.html