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NUCLEAR WASTE SITE IN WEST TEXAS SAW YEARS OF LEGAL BATTLES

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Byproduct materials nearing the end of disposal at the WCS Byproduct Material Facility in this photo from October 2013. (Waste Control Specialists)

We've been reporting this week on the arrival to West Texas of some low-level radioactive waste that was originally meant to stay in New Mexico.

Over the next few months, contaminated clothes, tools and other items are coming to a site outside the town of Andrews run by Waste Control Specialists.

The waste comes mostly from the Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, home to decades-long nuclear power and weapons research. Its temporary home in West Texas is, according to the company, the only storage and disposal site for this type of low-level radioactive waste in the country.

But some critics have fought for over a decade to keep that waste from coming here.

The Texas Tribune has been following news out of what critics call the "Nuclear Corridor" in Southeast New Mexico and Far West Texas. We recently spoke with Tribune reporter Jim Malewitz for some background on the years of debate over this site.

Travis Bubenik is News Director at Marfa Public Radio.