| 7/19/2006 3:00:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Huntington wants depleted uranium testing extended
Peggy Vlerebome
Courier Staff Writer
Five years of collecting data on depleted uranium would not be nearly long enough before the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides whether to allow the Army to decommission Jefferson Proving Ground, Mayor Al Huntington said in a letter Tuesday to the federal agency.
“Protection against airborne and surface water migration of potential hazardous chemicals must be assured by expanding the testing period to a minimum of 25 years and expanding the JPG DU testing area with more monitoring wells to the west and southwest,” Huntington wrote. “This concern for human safety is supported by a study at Northern Arizona University which finds that depleted uranium can cause genetic mutations.”
His letter was read by city official Betsey Vonderheide at a listening session conducted in Madison by a three-member panel of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, which is part of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The three-member panel was in Madison primarily for a conference today with attorneys from the NRC staff, the Army and Save the Valley environmental organization to talk about issues Save the Valley has raised in challenging the Army’s request to be given five years to collect data before it seeks decommissioning of JPG. Munitions containing depleted uranium were tested at JPG between 1984 and 1994.
The conference today was at City Hall and was open to the public to observe but not participate.
The panel will be back in Madison for a public hearing on whichever issues are approved for consideration. The date has not been set.
Eighteen people attended the half-hour listening session at the Madison-Jefferson County Public Library. At least half of them are involved in the issue, representing Save the Valley, the Army, the NRC staff and the contractors who work for the Army doing monitoring and studies.
The Army had to have an NRC license in order to use depleted uranium at the testing site. Depleted uranium is left over after uranium is processed such as for nuclear power plant fuel. Depleted uranium is radioactive and toxic, and the study Huntington referred to said that DU also can alter DNA.
Only two other people spoke at the listening session. They were Joel Wientke, representing the Hoosier Environmental Council, and Joe Robb, refuge manager at the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge. Wientke said there are a lot of unanswered questions about the Army’s plans at JPG. Robb said it is good a lot of information is being gathered, because the more data there is, the better decisions can be made.
Huntington’s letter also said the Army “must guarantee sufficient appropriations to fund all aspects of the DU liability.”
Otherwise, he wrote, problems “ will become the financial burden” of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management.
The listening session was more informal than the NRC panel is accustomed to. Chairman Alan Rosenthal said he and panel members Paul Abramson and Richard F. Cole were in shirtsleeves in deference to the extreme heat. Ordinarily, he said, they wear suits — “ usually dark suits,” he added with a laugh — and ties.
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