Energy Department to discuss plans for Amchitka

ANCHORAGE (AP) The U.S. Department of Energy will discuss its long-term plans for Amchitka Island at meetings in Dutch Harbor and Anchorage this week.

The United States detonated three underground atomic tests on Amchitka between 1964 and 1971. State officials, the Aleutian-Pribilof Island Association and residents of other Aleutian islands have asked the federal agency to plan a long-term monitoring process to periodically check for radiation leaks from the buried atomic waste.

Energy Department officials will discuss the agency's risk assessment for radioactive leaks from Amchitka. They also will discuss its plans for managing the island.

The Dutch Harbor meeting will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Grand Aleutian Hotel. The meeting in Anchorage is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Marriott Anchorage Downtown.