A single truckload of nuclear waste scheduled to pass through Missouri on I-70 this summer has state officials upset.

The U.S. Department of Energy plans to ship the spent nuclear fuel from its Savannah River site in South Carolina to a storage facility in Idaho. This is the second year of the 10-year program to send waste to Idaho. Last year, five flatbeds went through Iowa on Interstate 80. Missouri officials want to know why the same route isn't being used this year.
DOE officials say the new route is 68 miles shorter, but an official from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources says I-70 is the worst possible interstate in the country to use. I-70 has more traffic, more accidents and more maintenance problems than Iowa's I-80, they say.
DOE officials say the longer Iowa route was used last year because the agency didn't want to send five trucks through St. Louis. The route is re-evaluated each year.