DOE Plan Poses Potential for Harm.

A decision by U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler has found that the Department of Energy's ongoing recycling of thousands of tons radioactive metals for commercial uses (including eating utensils, hip replacements, baby carriages or many other consumer items) poses "great" and unexamined potential for environmental harm.

Kessler found that "[T]he potential for environmental harm is great, especially given the unprecedented amount of hazardous materials which defendants seek to recycle."

The suit concerned a quarter billion dollar contract awarded in 1997 by the DOE to BNFL, Inc., a subsidiary of the British Nuclear Fuels, Ltd., to decommission and …