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SNELLING, S.C. (AP) - In this rural county beset by high unemployment, the soon-to-arrive day when the local nuclear-waste landfill closes its doors to nearly all debris is no cause for celebration.
Chem-Nuclear, a disposal site for low-level radioactive waste from hospitals and power plants around the nation, offers some of the county's few high-paying jobs, provides roughly 10 percent of its overall budget and pumps $1 million a year into local schools. It has also handed out college scholarships and bought equipment for police and paramedics.
The landfill has long been under attack from environmentalists, and a 2000 state law says that starting next year, it can accept waste only from South Carolina and two other states. But now, as that date draws near, lawmakers are considering extending the deadline to 2023.
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