[CPEO-MEF] Depleted uranium on Hawaiian ranges

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Depleted uranium a Cold War leftover


by William Cole
Honolulu Advertiser
May 11, 2007

Depleted uranium that was left behind in Hawai'i in the 1960s came from 
a recoilless rifle capable of firing a 76-pound nuclear bomb, the 
Pentagon confirmed for the first time yesterday.

The Army told The Advertiser that the rifle's "spotting rounds," which 
are fired in order to aim the trajectory of the nuclear device, were 
used at Schofield Barracks and possibly at Makua Military Reservation 
and Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

There is no evidence, however, that the fission bomb warhead itself was 
ever fired here, and it's unclear if it was ever stored in Hawai'i. The 
warhead had the strength of two to four times the explosive power that 
destroyed an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

The aiming rounds of the weapon left behind depleted uranium, and the 
military this summer is going to conduct radiological testing at 
Schofield, Makua and Pohakuloa for traces of the heavy metal, an Army 
official at the Pentagon said. The official requested to be identified 
as a "U.S. Army spokesman."

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070511/NEWS01/705110374/1001/NEWS

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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