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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A truck carrying radioactive dirt has caught fire in Utah.
The North Tooele Fire District said the fire was extinguished Thursday morning and did not damage containers holding 82,000 pounds (37,195 kilograms) of radioactive waste or pose a threat to the public.
Fire department spokesman Ryan Willden said the fire on Interstate-80 west of Salt Lake City was started by an electrical malfunction.
He said the truck's tractor was destroyed but the driver was uninjured.
Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Todd Royce said the truck was on its way to a waste disposal facility in western Utah.
Environmental activists said the fire should discourage federal lawmakers from reviving the nuclear waste dump at neighboring Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Members of Congress are set to tour the site outside Las Vegas this weekend.
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