The $5 Billion Nuclear Waste

Shoreham will be torn down

Spread over 500 acres of waterfront on Long Island, 55 miles east of New York City, lies a vast, intricate and inert tangle of 20th century technology. Completed 4 1/2 years ago, it has cost $5.3 billion to build and maintain. But the Long Island Lighting Company's Shoreham plant has never gone into service -- and probably never will. Last week LILCO agreed to sell the idle facility to New York State for $1. If the deal is approved, as expected, by several state and federal agencies, the plant will be dismantled and the pieces carted away, as soon as the...

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