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Report: Nuke Dump Fire Preventable

The truck that caught fire a half mile underground at a southeastern New Mexico nuclear waste dump was 29 years old, improperly maintained and operating without an automatic fire-suppression system.

Those are some of the conclusions of a report to be released Friday into the accident last month at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) near Carlsbad.

The report also will detail a number of deficiencies in emergency training and responses to recent back-to-back incidents at WIPP.

A U.S. Department of Energy official previewed the findings Thursday evening at a community meeting, saying the fire was preventable.

An investigation of a radiation release nine days later that contaminated 17 workers is expected in a few weeks.

Also Thursday, the contractor that runs the site said Farok Sharif has been replaced by Bob McQuinn as president and project manager at WIPP.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.