DENVER — Colorado state regulators have discovered high levels of a cancer-causing chemical in the groundwater around an old uranium mill outside Cañon City, Colo., The Denver Post reported.

According to the report, trichloroethene, which was used to remove polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the 1980s, was detected at concentrations up to 360 times the federal health limit in groundwater around Cotter Corp.’s defunct uranium mill.

Cotter employees originally discovered the contamination in water samples taken in October and the company plans to conduct further groundwater sampling in May to determine the amount of trichloroethene and its spread, the article stated.

The site has been placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national list for Superfund cleanups, according to the story.

“Vapors can seep up through the soil and get into homes. Then you have not only a drinking issue but an inhalation risk,” EPA spokeswoman Sonya Pennock said. “We need to find out how much there is and where it is. Then you would make a decision as to whether people could be exposed to it.”

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