Copyright 1999 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
January 7, 1999, Thursday, CONSTITUTION
EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 17A
LENGTH: 601 words
SERIES: Home
HEADLINE: NATION IN BRIEF;
Nuclear blast traces
found in groundwater
BODY:
Traces of
plutonium from a test blast in the Nevada desert migrated nearly a mile through
groundwater, according to a study that prompted the government to recalculate
slightly the risks that would be posed by an underground nuclear waste storage
site. Scientists said the amount of radioactivity that can move in this fashion
is too small to endanger the public, and the U.S. Energy Department, in
reassessing the risks of the government's proposed waste site beneath Nevada's
Yucca Mountain, agreed.
Until recently, it was commonly
believed that significant amounts of plutonium would not move through
groundwater because the element dissolves at a very low rate and attaches
strongly to any rocks it touches. But in a study published Wednesday in the
journal Nature, researchers confirmed suspicions that plutonium can hitch a ride
on colloids, or particles of debris suspended in water. Scientists from Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in California and Los Alamos National Laboratory
in New Mexico looked at a 30-year-old nuclear blast that reached below the water
table at the Nevada Test Site, where the United States conducted 828 underground
nuclear tests between 1956 and 1992.
Aide to bin Laden indicted in N.Y. A
top aide to Osama bin Laden, the man accused of masterminding the U.S. Embassy
bombings in Africa, was indicted in New York Wednesday, joining 11 others
accused of a conspiracy against the United States. Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, 40, a
native of Sudan who is believed to be of Iraqi descent, was indicted by a grand
jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Salim remains held without bail in the
Metropolitan Correctional Center.
Deal could end desegregation order A
tentative deal was reached Wednesday that would bring an end to court-ordered
desegregation in Missouri and still allow busing to continue for St. Louis
schools. The St. Louis desegregation plan is the result of a 1972 lawsuit filed
by parents of black students and the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People.
Sheriffs with warrants search newsrooms Sheriff's deputies
armed with search warrants raided Reno, Nev.'s three television stations and its
newspaper on Wednesday for copies of an interview with a man accused of opening
fire on Interstate 80.
N.H. confectioner recalls chocolates Lindt &
Sprungli Inc. of Stratham, N.H., is recalling some chocolate products because
they may contain undeclared traces of peanut butter or hazelnuts. The products
pose the risk of a life-threatening reaction if eaten by someone allergic to
nuts. The candy is sold in eight states in the Northeast and in Virginia and
Maryland.
7 surviving octuplets breathing on their own All seven of the
surviving Houston octuplets were breathing on their own Wednesday after Gorom
Louis, who underwent abdominal surgery Dec. 26, was taken off a ventilator. Her
four sisters and two brothers were being breast-fed by their mother, Nkem
Chukwu. Gorom continued to be fed intravenously. All of the babies remained in
critical but stable condition. Odera, a girl who weighed less than a pound at
birth, died a week after she was born Dec. 20.
Molestation inspired by
television show? Two teenage brothers were charged in Miami with sexually
molesting their 8-year-old half sister after claiming they got the idea from
watching an episode on incest on ''The Jerry Springer Show.'' The boys, ages 13
and 15, were arrested Dec. 11 by police in nearby Hollywood and charged with
sexual battery and lewd and lascivious acts. Police said the older boy confessed
to having intercourse with the girl.
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January 8, 1999 
