Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : EPA OKs Nuclear Waste Storage Test

The Environmental Protection Agency has granted conditional permission to store radioactive and hazardous waste in a salt cavern 2,150 feet underground in New Mexico. The decision represents a modest victory for the nuclear industry, which has suffered several setbacks in attempts to restart nuclear-weapons manufacturing. Authorized was storage for a five-year test period of 8,500 drums of waste. But the amount will do little to ease the nuclear-waste crisis hindering weapons-making operations at such facilities as Rocky Flats, near Denver, and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. The conditional approval is likely to be challenged in court.