Two former Idaho governors testified Monday as a trial began over whether the Department of Energy is required to remove buried radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory nuclear compound.
Democrat Cecil Andrus and Republican Phil Batt say they always understood the agreement between the agency and state to mean removal of all transuranic waste at the site, both above ground and buried.
DOE says a 1995 agreement it signed with then governor Batt only covers waste stored above the ground, not underground.
Transuranic waste is gloves, rags and other debris contaminated with radioactive material that takes thousands of years to decay to safe levels.