Word: junkyard
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...minstrels of medieval Europe, the moon was a kind of celestial junkyard. They consigned to lunar banishment a dolorous assortment of such earthly intangibles as broken vows, fruitless tears and misspent time. Today the moon is a repository of more substantial material: it harbors a pile of gear, left behind by Apollo astronauts, that includes one moon buggy, $5 million worth of camera equipment and two golf balls that Alan Shepard whacked with a makeshift six iron to unplayable lies in a boulder-strewed valley. Still, this lunar refuse is paltry by comparison with all of the man-made debris...
Over the next two months, 20 junkyard workers were exposed to various levels of radiation. According to doctors, at least four of these men received very high doses. Two of the four absorbed 100 times the maximum amount of gamma rays that U.S. nuclear workers are allowed to receive in an entire year. One of the pair has sore gums; the other suffered nosebleeds. Says one investigating doctor: "Their chances of developing cancer are probably pretty good." The junkyard laborers are not the only ones at risk. The heavily contaminated truck that Sotelo had driven sat idle for two months...
...area of hazard grew even wider as radioactive scrap from the junkyard was transported to two Mexican foundries, one in Ciudad Juárez, the other 220 miles south in Chihuahua. According to José Antonio Rotonda of the Mexican Nuclear Commission, radioactive pellets that had adhered to scraps in the truck fell off en route to Chihuahua, and eight pockets of contamination have been discovered between the two cities...
...Ciudad Juárez foundry, the scrap was turned into table pedestals that were shipped across the border but later tracked down. U.S. officials say they are almost certain that all of the contaminated legs were returned to Mexico. In Chihuahua, the junkyard material was converted into steel reinforcing rods, and according to Mexican officials, about 500 tons of this hot steel were shipped to the U.S. The rods were used in the construction of at least two houses near Farmington, N. Mex., and the owners had to replace their radioactive foundations. An additional 3,500 tons of steel remained...
...Nuclear Regulatory Commission has also launched an inquiry into the incident. While the uncertainty lingers, Mexican engineers continue to clean up the junkyard, laboriously clearing away the top layer of soil. But not even such a thorough scouring will suffice to sweep away the fears of Sotelo and his neighbors...