Army Floats Plans for Former Nuclear Site in Md.

The Army is seeking public comment on the proposed decommissioning of a former nuclear reactor site in Silver Spring, Md.

A spokesman at Fort Detrick in Frederick said Friday that the comment period runs through July 29.

The site is called the Diamond Ordnance Radiation Facility at the Forest Glen Annex. Fort Detrick took it over from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2008.

From 1961 to 1977, it housed a small reactor for investigating the effects of radiation on electrical and electronic components. The reactor was decommissioned in 1980, but a 1998 review revealed residual radioactivity in the former reactor building.

The Army is considering five options for decommissioning the site. It says none of them would have significant adverse effects on people or the environment.