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abolition-usa-digest    Thursday, February 4 1999    Volume 01 : Number 070




----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 18:24:06 -0800
From: "David Crockett Williams" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) US Target of Nuclear Missiles?  How to avert WWIII.

[evaluation following]

The Bakersfield Californian Newspaper
Wednesday, February 3, 1999, pA8

CIA:  N. Korea close to developing missile that could hit United States

NY Times News Service

WASHINGTON --  North Korea is on the verge of developing ballistic missiles
capable of hitting the continental United States, the director of central
intelligence, George Tenet, told Congress on Tuesday.

North Korea's communist government appears to be working to produce nuclear
weapons covertly and to extend the range of its ballistic missles in ways
that have surprised U.S. intelligence agencies, American officials have
said.

In a review of threats to U.S. national security, Tenet told lawmakers that
North Korea was working on a new generation of missiles that could soon "be
able to deliver large payloads" to the continental United States.

North Korea's accelerated weapons programs comes against a backdrop of
famine and increasing instability in the country, making its government's
actions dangerously difficult to predict.

"I can hardly overstate my concern about North Korea", Tenet told the Senate
Armed Services Committee.  "In nearly all aspects, the situation there has
become more volatile and unpredictable."

Tenet's comments concerning the threat from North Korea caps a remarkable
reversal by U.S. intellegence agencies in the last few months.

In July, a bipartisan commission headed by former Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld concluded that countries it describes as rougue states could hit
the United States with ballistic missiles with little or no warning.

[end article]

Evaluation:

The situation of economic disparity between the United States today and the
rest of the world, especially the generally poor countries termed "rogue
states" by U.S. authorities, but even including Japan, is brewing heightened
levels of resentment and hostility towards the US.  This is exacerbated by
the blatant materialism and bragging kind of portrayal of American
lifestyles depicted in US movies and television along with their
glorification of violence.

Wise observers will recognize that this situation of economic disparity is
fueling a worldwide movement demanding economic justice in any "new world
order" and that feelings now globally are peaking against the United States
resulting in tensions even greater than those existing before the start of
World War II.

We must act now to take remedial actions to avert World War III before it
starts.  This is the theme of the Global Crisis Solutions Conference to be
held at UC Berkeley Alumni House on Monday, March 1st, and the preceding
events, also to promote the Global Peace Walk's 1999-2000 mission to the
United Nations and Washington, DC, to bring out the prayer of "Global Peace
Now!" as a universal human resolve for Global Peace2000.  Start regular
local Global Peace Walks now, please.

For more information on these events, including the local Global Peace Walk
from Oakland City Hall on Friday, February 26th, to UC Berkeley Upper Sproul
Plaza for mid-day Global Peace Rally, and the noon Saturday to noon Sunday,
February 27-28, Global Peace Prayer Vigil and Winter Love-In in Berkeley's
Peoples Park, see
http://www.angelfire.com/on/GEAR2000.

David Crockett Williams, coordinator Global Peace Walk 1999-2000
Initiator, Global Emergency Alert Response
[e-mail]



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 23:14:59 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Daniel Fine)
Subject: (abolition-usa) Santa Barbara meeting

Will not be able to attend, but following info might be of interest. Good luck

(1) Dan Fine, member of Pittsburgh abolition coalition, and PSR-Pittsburgh

(2) many here involved in abolition for decades

(3) "ABOLITION 2000: Western Pennsylvania Campaign to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons", made up of ~30 area organizations (including Pennsylvania Peace
Links, WFA-Pittsburgh, PSR-Pittsburgh, Thomas Merton Center, Friends
Meeting etc etc), continuous activity since founding 1990 as W.PA Campaign
for a CTB, and new name since 1995. Includes ~4 members of Abolition 2000
net.

Current focus, planning Pittsburgh Conference, May 13-14, 1999:
"ELIMINATING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION: WHY NOT NUCLEAR ABOLITION",  with
General Lee Butler as keynote speaker, and sponsorship by many graduate
schools and dept of the University of Pittsburgh and community groups,
including Rotary, League of Women Voters, PSR-Pittsburgh, WFA, PA Peace
Links; out of area-national= Albert Schweitzer Fellowship,  Henry Stimson
Center (Wash DC). Mission is to reach broad mainstream audience and media
and broaden abolition support.

(4) Work over years= WRL enola gay and Hiroshima exhibits, all over area
schools, colleges, libraries, churches with Citizen Pledge petition
campaign, abolition statement signed by religious and community leaders,
medical -doctor abolition support, city council resolutions, delegations
with above documentation to Senators, Pentagon, State Dept, UN, White House
etc, and substantial media visibility.

NEED CONNECTIONS to ABOLITION GROUPS IN OHIO, AND CENTRAL AND EASTERN PA
(EG PHILADELPHIA).

While we can not be in Santa Barbara, wishes for success and hope this helps.

Dan Fine

PSR-Pittsburgh
- -dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 3 Feb 1999 23:19:33 -0500
From: [e-mail] (Daniel Fine)
Subject: [none]

PSR-Pittsburgh
- -dedicated to the abolition of nuclear weapons



- -
 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 10:16:39 -0500
From: ASlater <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: NUKE-WASTE: (Fwd) chicago nuclear spill scare

>Date: Wed, 03 Feb 1999 17:31:57 -0500
>Subject: NUKE-WASTE: (Fwd) chicago nuclear spill scare
>Priority: non-urgent
>X-FC-MachineGenerated: true
>To: [e-mail]
>From: [e-mail] ([e-mail])
>
>From Anna
>
>------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
>Date sent:          Wed, 03 Feb 1999 12:52:42 -0500
>To:                 [e-mail]
>From:               Anna Aurilio <[e-mail]>
>Subject:            chicago nuclear spill scare
>
>FALSE FEARS JAM KENNEDY
>TRUCK CRASH RAISES EMPTY NUCLEAR THREAT
>
>By Diane Struzzi and Julie Deardorff, Tribune Staff Writers. Tribune
>staff writers Marla Donato and Anthony Burke...
>
>February 03, 1999
>
>Rush-hour traffic nightmares in Chicago have been blamed on everything
>from blizzards to fender benders and police standoffs to potholes--even a
>Dennis Rodman mural.
>
>Tuesday evening's massive headache on the Kennedy Expressway, however,
>appeared to be the first blamed on what was feared to be a nuclear waste
>spill.
>
>Put the emphasis on the word "feared" because, as it turned out, the six
>stainless steel containers that flipped off the back of an overturned
>semitrailer truck on the southbound Kennedy in Hubbard's Cave near
>Chicago's downtown were empty. They once had contained fuel for nuclear
>power plants.
>
>Even so, the freakish accident slammed southbound traffic on the Kennedy
>to a halt for nearly two hours at the height of the rush hour as police
>worked to first clear the truck and then to bring in state nuclear safety
>experts to figure out exactly what they were dealing with. Rubberneckers
>and gapers slowed northbound lanes to a crawl as well.
>
>And after the lanes were reopened, traffic heading away from the Loop was
>locked bumper to bumper for hours in both directions.
>
>The truck, which bore the name RSB Logistic of St. Louis on its side and
>had license plates from both Missouri and Oregon, was traveling south on
>the Kennedy when it reached the Hubbard's Cave area about 4:30 p.m.
>
>It was transporting approximately 25 empty containers, each marked
>radioactive, when it smacked the top of the Hubbard Street bridge,
>overturned and dumped the containers, according to Bob Fleischmann, an
>official with the Illinois Department of Transportation.
>
>The 1,400-pound canisters once held a gas called uranium hexafluoride,
>according to the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety. But a spokesman
>for the Illinois State Police said the containers had been "emptied,
>purged and cleaned" prior to the accident.
>
>"Initially people thought there was stuff inside but there was nothing,"
>said State Police Special Agent Mary Leonard.
>
>Canisters struck two cars, causing one to hit the median. The state
>police said the driver of one car suffered minor injuries.
>
>Officials of RSB Logistic could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
>
>IDOT extricated the truck with a crane and hauled it to the Polk Street
>turnaround station in the middle of the nearby Dan Ryan Expressway, but
>he containers weren't moved until they were inspected by the nuclear
>safety agency. "We're going to do additional tests, but at this point
>there is no reason to believe there is a hazard," said Tom Ortciger,
>director of the agency.
>
>Ortciger said the containers came from Richland, Wash., and were on their
>way to a Harvey railroad yard to be shipped to Germany.
>
>The bridge has a clearance of at least 13 feet 6 inches, which is the
>minimum for an interstate highway, state police said.
>
>But the truck entered the cave carrying at least one oversized container
>on top of the flatbed rather than on a specially designed trailer,
>according to an IDOT spokesman.
>
>"That's no good because the container then sits higher than it normally
>should," said IDOT's Fleischmann. "The (overseas containers) are normally
>put on trailers made for those boxes. On a regular trailer, they sit
>higher and don't meet the clearance."
>
>The driver of the truck, Ronald Grafflin of Spokane, Wash., was cited for
>driving an "over height truck," said Leonard.
>
>Local officials said they could not recall a similar scare over nuclear
>material.
>
>Ortciger said uranium hexafluoride is a gas that can be converted into
>uranium oxide, which is then used to fuel nuclear power plant reactors.
>He said the canisters, made of stainless steel, were designed to sustain
>high impacts.
>
>"Probably even if they were full there would be no public health safety
>issue," Ortciger said. "The biggest threat is the traffic accident they
>could cause."
>
>The accident shut the southbound Kennedy from Division Street to Randolph
>Street from 4:30 p.m. to about 6:15 p.m., when police managed to open
>three of the five lanes through Hubbard's Cave.
>
>Travel speeds for many commuters Tuesday were measured in feet-per-hour
>rather than miles-per-hour.
>
>However frustrating the delays, though, they were far from
>record-setting.
>
>After the recent blizzard, for example, expressway traffic moved to a
>crawl and delays ran to nearly three hours.
>
>It also wasn't the first time a major block of a busy Chicago-area
>expressway had been shut down during a rush hour.
>
>Five years ago, thousands of motorists on the Tri-State Tollway were
>stranded for three hours when police surrounded a Milwaukee-bound
>Greyhound bus near Deerfield because they believed a murder suspect might
>be on board. He wasn't.
>
>In 1997, the Edens Expressway near Glencoe also was shut for three hours
>when a Wisconsin woman rear-ended a delivery truck and then fired a
>revolver at police.
>
>Stuck for more than 90 minutes on a Kennedy entrance ramp Tuesday,
>salesman Joe Demicco debated whether to simply lock up his car and wait
>out the delay in a nearby tavern.
>
>Even when traffic began to clear, Demicco was wary about driving past the
>accident scene.
>
>"I definitely do not want to go in there," Demicco said after hearing a
>radio report that the canisters once contained radioactive material.
>
>"I might wake up six months from now and have six toes on my foot."
>
>############################################################
>Elizabeth Hitchcock                |  Internet:    [e-mail]
>Communications Director  U.S. PIRG    |  Phone:    [phone]
>U.S. Public Interest Research Group    |  Fax:        [phone]
>218 D St., SE, Washington, DC 20003    |  WWW:    www.pirg.org
>############################################################
>
>
>James Quinn
>Electronic Outreach Specialist (Volunteer)& Board Member
>Citizen Alert
>"A Voice for the Land and People of Nevada"
>[e-mail]  *  http://www.igc.org/citizenalert
>
>**************************************************************************
>   To send a message to everyone on the list, address your message to:
>                         [e-mail]
>  To unsubscribe, send a message containing "unsubscribe NUKE-WASTE" to:
>                          [e-mail]
> Problems or Questions, contact James Quinn, Citizen Alert, Las Vegas NV:
>                             [e-mail]
>**************************************************************************
>

Alice Slater
Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE)
15 East 26th Street, Room 915
New York, NY 10010
tel:  [phone]
fax:  [phone]
email:  [e-mail]

GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty
to eliminate nuclear weapons.

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 To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "[e-mail]"
 with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message.
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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 4 Feb 1999 11:44:12 -0700
From: [e-mail] (Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa)
Subject: (abolition-usa) ANTI-WAR PROTEST ARREST INFO NEEDED

PLEASE POST -

INFORMATION NEEDED ABOUT ANTI-WAR & ANTI-MILITARISM PROTEST ARRESTS

Since 1980, the Nuclear Resister newsletter has chronicled anti-nuclear
civil disobedience and provided support for people who are imprisoned as a
result of these actions.  In 1991, we also included resistance to the Gulf
War, and reported more than 6,000 arrests of people protesting the bombing
of Iraq.  Since then, the newsletter has continued our expansion of
coverage to include anti-war and anti-militarism protest arrests.

We are aware of many vigils and protests in recent months throughout the
U.S. and around the world which took place in opposition to the sanctions
against and bombing of Iraq.  For our upcoming issue, we would like to know
of any arrests that have occurred as a result of these protests.  (Or any
other anti-nuclear or anti-militarism protest arrests.)  Please provide as
much information as possible, or include a person we might contact for more
details.  A response would be appreciated ASAP, since our deadline is not
very far away!

Thank you!  Send a snail mail address if you'd like a free sample of this issue.

Felice and Jack Cohen-Joppa


_____________________________________
                  the Nuclear Resister
                  "a chronicle of hope"
                      P.O. Box 43383
                    Tucson  AZ 85733
        - information about and support for
imprisoned anti-nuclear and anti-war activists -
        Jack & Felice Cohen-Joppa, editors
                    phone/fax [phone]
US$15/year/US$20 Canada/US$25 overseas
        - selections from current issue
          - updated prisoner addresses
            - & more can be read at:
   http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister
       * FREE SAMPLE ISSUE ON REQUEST *
(please supply a postal address for samples)
_____________________________________



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------------------------------

Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 14:07:53 -0500
From: Peace though Reason <[e-mail]>
Subject: (abolition-usa) NucNews (US) 1/24/99 - Tritium dangers

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3. Tritium stirs concern at Test Site
Scientists call element's dangers more worrisome than plutonium's

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1999/jan/24/508316281.html

By Mary Manning <[e-mail]>
LAS VEGAS SUN, January 24, 1999

Recent news reports have alerted the public to the discovery of plutonium
almost
a mile from where underground nuclear weapons were exploded at the Nevada
Test Site.

But scientists working to clean up the site are more concerned about another
element left from the more than 900 explosions set off 65 miles northwest of
Las
Vegas: radioactive tritium.

Their concern is how fast and how far tritium has traveled in the ground water
and
whether it has escaped the site's boundaries.

Tritium is considered the most dangerous of the materials left over from the
nuclear blasts because it dissolves easily in ground water and poses a threat
to
public health for more than 100 years.

The Department of Energy began cleaning up the Cold War's radioactive mess
after 1992 when a moratorium was imposed on U.S. nuclear testing. Officials
estimate it will take until 2070 to complete the task and remove the threat of
widespread contamination.

Above-ground tests that spread plutonium over the land in central Nevada were
cleaned up first. The emphasis was switched to ground-water contamination after
DOE scientists three years ago discovered plutonium in a water well far from a
nuclear-bomb cavity. If plutonium can travel a mile floating in water, then
tritium,
which dissolves in water, would be a greater threat, scientists say.

Congress gave the DOE's Nevada Operations Office an extra $6 million this year
to drill six new wells, for a total of eight, south and west of Pahute Mesa to
check
for tritium in the ground water. The concern is that if tritium has flowed
south and
west, it will move into drinking supplies and irrigation water for crops and
dairy
cows.

The new wells are expected to be completed by the end of the year. Samples will
be analyzed and the results made public as analysis is completed, officials
involved with the project say.

The scientists also are working to determine the direction the underground
water
is flowing. That information may not be available until 2003, Gary Russell of
the
U.S. Geological Survey in Las Vegas said.

Because of the secrecy surrounding the bomb blasts, little information on the
content, size or number of weapons was available to outside scientists.

By piecing together information from available public sources, physicist
Anthony
Hechanova, who works at the Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies at
UNLV, determined that at least 260 underground nuclear explosions took place at
or under the level of the ground water at the Test Site from 1951 to 1992.

Hechanova also gleaned from 10,000 pages of recently declassified DOE
documents that a total of 921 bombs were set off at different levels during the
same period, and he verified the number of ground-water blasts.

He compiled his findings in a comprehensive report released last week and made
available to the public at UNLV's James Dickinson Library.

"This is the first time it has been compiled into one report accessible to the
public," Hechanova said.

Thus far records that give the contents of the nuclear weapons are not
available,
which is hindering scientists in the cleanup effort and slowing a flow of
information that could offer warnings to residents if dangers exist.

Hechanova found that the 921 underground nuclear-weapons experiments were
conducted in 878 shafts and tunnels at the Test Site.

"The DOE has not released source term data (information about what was left by
the bombs) on the individual nuclear-test explosions at the NTS," Vernon
Brechin, a former Stanford University electronics technician, said. He now is a
consultant specializing in the effects of underground nuclear explosions.

"Though the DOE has this information, it is still classified, reportedly to
prevent
the proliferation of nuclear-weapons technology," Brechin said.

Information about the Test Site experiments has trickled out recently in DOE
reports issued from the national laboratories at Los Alamos in New Mexico and
Livermore in California.

Hechanova, an MIT graduate, came to the Reid Center almost four years ago to
work on the project. He has used the available DOE reports as well as those
issued to the public from the U.S. Geological Survey to compile the study.

The search for the nuclear elements escaping into the environment is important
because the radiation could already be moving through the ground water toward
communities such as Beatty and the Amargosa Valley, where crops grow and
milk cows graze, Hechanova said. But he said no evidence currently exists of
radiation creeping off the Test Site.

There is, however, fear that the contamination may be widespread.

In 1991, DOE Test Site Manager Nick Aquilina adopted a policy for
ground-water protection while nuclear testing continued, and scientists began
to
try to track radioactivity moving in the ground water.

"No one is willing to jeopardize the present water supply required for NTS
(Nevada Test Site) operations, which includes drinking water," said DOE
scientists Gregory Nimz of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Joseph
Thompson of Los Alamos National Laboratory in a 1992 report.

"Clearly, ground water is capable of carrying certain dissolved nuclides
(radioactive particles) appreciable distances," Nimz and Thompson reported.

In the 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the DOE,
experimented with ever-larger bombs at the Test Site. To avoid leaking
radiation
into the atmosphere, some of the nuclear devices were detonated near or below
the ground water. By "near," the DOE means within 330 feet of subsurface water.

First, today's scientists need to know the nuclear contents at the heart of
those
deep holes where the atomic explosions occurred, Hechanova said. Then
researchers can begin piecing together information on radiation migration from
the
caverns through surrounding ground water and rock.

Hechanova is trying to find out how much radioactivity is trapped in the
caverns
created by the original bomb blasts. "Then we can work our way out," he said.

While DOE scientists at both Livermore and Los Alamos have reported
plutonium riding tiny particles in the ground water, called colloids, a mile
away
from an underground nuclear test, the real health threat to people from
ground-water contamination comes from tritium, Hechanova said.

Hechanova and UNLV radiochemistry professor Vernon Hodge examined 78
possible radioactive contaminants in the Test Site's ground water.

"We are trying to define the radioactivity posing the most risk to people,"
Hechanova said.

The risk from plutonium in the ground water is small because the particles that
get
into the water don't move very far. It's unlikely they would reach a populated
area.

"Part of the problem is the perception that plutonium is very deadly, often
called
the most dangerous substance known to man," Hechanova said. Risks from
plutonium exposure are much less than that of other radioactive materials left
from bombs such as tritium, neptunium, americium, thorium and uranium, he said.

The danger from plutonium comes if a speck of it is inhaled or ingested.

Tritium appears to be the leading contender as the contaminant with the best
chance of posing a threat to the public. Scientists must find out whether it's
in the
ground water and which way the water is heading.

However, the Test Site is larger than Rhode Island. Scientists must play a
guessing game on where to look.

"The real problem, the real huge question is, where is the tritium plume?"
Hechanova asks.

Hechanova estimates that 100 million curies of the total blast residues came
from
tritium. The Environmental Protection Agency considers drinking a daily dose of
more than 20,000 picocuries (one-trillionth of a curie) of tritium dissolved in
two
quarts of water to be dangerous.

The rest of the radiation in the Test Site's ground water could come from
cesium,
strontium, iodine, plutonium, carbon, uranium or other remains of a nuclear
blast.

The DOE cleanup effort is focusing on water flowing south and west of Pahute
Mesa in the northwest corner of the Test Site. The extra wells will be drilled
in the
potential path of the ground water. Pahute Mesa was loaned to the DOE by the
Air Force for nuclear experiments so, technically, contaminated water on the
mesa could be considered off-site.

If radiation is found in the new wells, it would show that contaminated water
had
migrated off the Test Site property and could be heading for residents in
Beatty
and the Amargosa Valley.

The DOE's own program for monitoring ground water chose to look at lead,
carbon-14, tritium, iodine-129, uranium, cesium and plutonium because they were
found in measurable quantities in water taken from the bomb cavities or nearby
monitoring wells on the site. Scientists also are looking at how the radiation
affects human health.

The DOE is not only worried about people living around the Test Site, it also
must examine the ground water to prevent workers drilling sampling wells from
coming in contact with radioactive water, DOE Project Manager Bob Bangerter
said.

Tritium, iodine and carbon-14 dissolve and flow along with the ground water.
Cesium, lead and plutonium normally cling to soil particles and move at a
slower
rate. Uranium can migrate somewhere between the other two groups.

For Hechanova, who was blocked by secrecy, it took three years to find enough
information to allow him to report on how much tritium was contained in five
blast cavities.

The size of some nuclear blasts and ground-water samples taken from nearby
water wells years after the explosions existed in open government files. They
gave
Hechanova a good estimate of the tritium inside the cavities left by five
nuclear
experiments: Bilby, Dalhart, Baseball, Cambric and Cheshire.

Bilby, a 249-kiloton blast triggered under the surface of the Test Site's
northeast
section in 1963, was the first underground nuclear experiment that rocked Las
Vegas, about 75 miles southeast of the explosion.

Hechanova and former Test Site scientist James O'Donnell combed U.S.
Geological Survey and national earthquake records for Bilby's impact. It
registered a 5.8 on the Richter scale at the International Data Center in
Virginia.
"That was a good-sized bomb," Hechanova said.

In 1965, Cambric exploded with a force less than a kiloton -- or less than
1,000
tons of TNT -- but produced extremely high tritium, nine times larger per
kiloton
than what was expected from such shots in or near the ground water. Hechanova
has a number of theories: the nuclear device fizzled, the scientists wanted to
create tritium or the results were unexpected.

Once Hechanova figures out the source amounts of tritium in the bomb caverns,
he plans to develop a simple monitor available to anyone living near the Test
Site's boundary. "Nothing like it exists now for the average person to sample
well
water," he said.

If he receives a $100,000 grant request, Hechanova hopes to develop a tritium
monitor at the Harry Reid Center with assistance from UNLV professors. "It's an
early warning system that any farmer could put down his well," he said.
_____________________________________________________________

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<html><br>
<div>3. Tritium stirs concern at Test Site</div>
<div>Scientists call element's dangers more worrisome than
plutonium's</div>
<br>
<div><a href="http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1999/jan/24/508316281.html" EUDORA=AUTOURL>http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/text/1999/jan/24/508316281.html</a></div>
<br>
<div>By Mary Manning <[e-mail]></div>
<div>LAS VEGAS SUN, January 24, 1999 </div>
<br>
<div>Recent news reports have alerted the public to the discovery of
plutonium almost</div>
<div>a mile from where underground nuclear weapons were exploded at the
Nevada</div>
<div>Test Site.</div>
<br>
<div>But scientists working to clean up the site are more concerned about
another</div>
<div>element left from the more than 900 explosions set off 65 miles
northwest of Las</div>
<div>Vegas: radioactive tritium.</div>
<br>
<div>Their concern is how fast and how far tritium has traveled in the
ground water and</div>
<div>whether it has escaped the site's boundaries.</div>
<br>
<div>Tritium is considered the most dangerous of the materials left over
from the</div>
<div>nuclear blasts because it dissolves easily in ground water and poses
a threat to</div>
<div>public health for more than 100 years.</div>
<br>
<div>The Department of Energy began cleaning up the Cold War's
radioactive mess</div>
<div>after 1992 when a moratorium was imposed on U.S. nuclear testing.
Officials</div>
<div>estimate it will take until 2070 to complete the task and remove the
threat of</div>
<div>widespread contamination.</div>
<br>
<div>Above-ground tests that spread plutonium over the land in central
Nevada were</div>
<div>cleaned up first. The emphasis was switched to ground-water
contamination after</div>
<div>DOE scientists three years ago discovered plutonium in a water well
far from a</div>
<div>nuclear-bomb cavity. If plutonium can travel a mile floating in
water, then tritium,</div>
<div>which dissolves in water, would be a greater threat, scientists
say.</div>
<br>
<div>Congress gave the DOE's Nevada Operations Office an extra $6 million
this year</div>
<div>to drill six new wells, for a total of eight, south and west of
Pahute Mesa to check</div>
<div>for tritium in the ground water. The concern is that if tritium has
flowed south and</div>
<div>west, it will move into drinking supplies and irrigation water for
crops and dairy</div>
<div>cows.</div>
<br>
<div>The new wells are expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Samples will</div>
<div>be analyzed and the results made public as analysis is completed,
officials</div>
<div>involved with the project say.</div>
<br>
<div>The scientists also are working to determine the direction the
underground water</div>
<div>is flowing. That information may not be available until 2003, Gary
Russell of the</div>
<div>U.S. Geological Survey in Las Vegas said.</div>
<br>
<div>Because of the secrecy surrounding the bomb blasts, little
information on the</div>
<div>content, size or number of weapons was available to outside
scientists.</div>
<br>
<div>By piecing together information from available public sources,
physicist Anthony</div>
<div>Hechanova, who works at the Harry Reid Center for Environmental
Studies at</div>
<div>UNLV, determined that at least 260 underground nuclear explosions
took place at</div>
<div>or under the level of the ground water at the Test Site from 1951 to
1992.</div>
<br>
<div>Hechanova also gleaned from 10,000 pages of recently declassified
DOE</div>
<div>documents that a total of 921 bombs were set off at different levels
during the</div>
<div>same period, and he verified the number of ground-water
blasts.</div>
<br>
<div>He compiled his findings in a comprehensive report released last
week and made</div>
<div>available to the public at UNLV's James Dickinson Library.</div>
<br>
<div>"This is the first time it has been compiled into one report
accessible to the</div>
<div>public," Hechanova said.</div>
<br>
<div>Thus far records that give the contents of the nuclear weapons are
not available,</div>
<div>which is hindering scientists in the cleanup effort and slowing a
flow of</div>
<div>information that could offer warnings to residents if dangers
exist.</div>
<br>
<div>Hechanova found that the 921 underground nuclear-weapons experiments
were</div>
<div>conducted in 878 shafts and tunnels at the Test Site.</div>
<br>
<div>"The DOE has not released source term data (information about
what was left by</div>
<div>the bombs) on the individual nuclear-test explosions at the
NTS," Vernon</div>
<div>Brechin, a former Stanford University electronics technician, said.
He now is a</div>
<div>consultant specializing in the effects of underground nuclear
explosions.</div>
<br>
<div>"Though the DOE has this information, it is still classified,
reportedly to prevent</div>
<div>the proliferation of nuclear-weapons technology," Brechin
said.</div>
<br>
<div>Information about the Test Site experiments has trickled out
recently in DOE</div>
<div>reports issued from the national laboratories at Los Alamos in New
Mexico and</div>
<div>Livermore in California.</div>
<br>
<div>Hechanova, an MIT graduate, came to the Reid Center almost four
years ago to</div>
<div>work on the project. He has used the available DOE reports as well
as those</div>
<div>issued to the public from the U.S. Geological Survey to compile the
study.</div>
<br>
<div>The search for the nuclear elements escaping into the environment is
important</div>
<div>because the radiation could already be moving through the ground
water toward</div>
<div>communities such as Beatty and the Amargosa Valley, where crops grow
and</div>
<div>milk cows graze, Hechanova said. But he said no evidence currently
exists of</div>
<div>radiation creeping off the Test Site.</div>
<br>
<div>There is, however, fear that the contamination may be
widespread.</div>
<br>
<div>In 1991, DOE Test Site Manager Nick Aquilina adopted a policy
for</div>
<div>ground-water protection while nuclear testing continued, and
scientists began to</div>
<div>try to track radioactivity moving in the ground water.</div>
<br>
<div>"No one is willing to jeopardize the present water supply
required for NTS</div>
<div>(Nevada Test Site) operations, which includes drinking water,"
said DOE</div>
<div>scientists Gregory Nimz of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
and Joseph</div>
<div>Thompson of Los Alamos National Laboratory in a 1992 report.</div>
<br>
<div>"Clearly, ground water is capable of carrying certain dissolved
nuclides</div>
<div>(radioactive particles) appreciable distances," Nimz and
Thompson reported.</div>
<br>
<div>In the 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the
DOE,</div>
<div>experimented with ever-larger bombs at the Test Site. To avoid
leaking radiation</div>
<div>into the atmosphere, some of the nuclear devices were detonated near
or below</div>
<div>the ground water. By "near," the DOE means within 330 feet
of subsurface water.</div>
<br>
<div>First, today's scientists need to know the nuclear contents at the
heart of those</div>
<div>deep holes where the atomic explosions occurred, Hechanova said.
Then</div>
<div>researchers can begin piecing together information on radiation
migration from the</div>
<div>caverns through surrounding ground water and rock.</div>
<br>
<div>Hechanova is trying to find out how much radioactivity is trapped in
the caverns</div>
<div>created by the original bomb blasts. "Then we can work our way
out," he said.</div>
<br>
<div>While DOE scientists at both Livermore and Los Alamos have
reported</div>
<div>plutonium riding tiny particles in the ground water, called
colloids, a mile away</div>
<div>from an underground nuclear test, the real health threat to people
from</div>
<div>ground-water contamination comes from tritium, Hechanova
said.</div>
<br>
<div>Hechanova and UNLV radiochemistry professor Vernon Hodge examined
78</div>
<div>possible radioactive contaminants in the Test Site's ground
water.</div>
<br>
<div>"We are trying to define the radioactivity posing the most risk
to people,"</div>
<div>Hechanova said.</div>
<br>
<div>The risk from plutonium in the ground water is small because the
particles that get</div>
<div>into the water don't move very far. It's unlikely they would reach a
populated area.</div>
<br>
<div>"Part of the problem is the perception that plutonium is very
deadly, often called</div>
<div>the most dangerous substance known to man," Hechanova said.
Risks from</div>
<div>plutonium exposure are much less than that of other radioactive
materials left</div>
<div>from bombs such as tritium, neptunium, americium, thorium and
uranium, he said.</div>
<br>
<div>The danger from plutonium comes if a speck of it is inhaled or
ingested.</div>
<br>
<div>Tritium appears to be the leading contender as the contaminant with
the best</div>
<div>chance of posing a threat to the public. Scientists must find out
whether it's in the</div>
<div>ground water and which way the water is heading.</div>
<br>
<div>However, the Test Site is larger than Rhode Island. Scientists must
play a</div>
<div>guessing game on where to look.</div>
<br>
<div>"The real problem, the real huge question is, where is the
tritium plume?"</div>
<div>Hechanova asks.</div>
<br>
<div>Hechanova estimates that 100 million curies of the total blast
residues came from</div>
<div>tritium. The Environmental Protection Agency considers drinking a
daily dose of</div>
<div>more than 20,000 picocuries (one-trillionth of a curie) of tritium
dissolved in two</div>
<div>quarts of water to be dangerous.</div>
<br>
<div>The rest of the radiation in the Test Site's ground water could come
from cesium,</div>
<div>strontium, iodine, plutonium, carbon, uranium or other remains of a
nuclear blast.</div>
<br>
<div>The DOE cleanup effort is focusing on water flowing south and west
of Pahute</div>
<div>Mesa in the northwest corner of the Test Site. The extra wells will
be drilled in the</div>
<div>potential path of the ground water. Pahute Mesa was loaned to the
DOE by the</div>
<div>Air Force for nuclear experiments so, technically, contaminated
water on the</div>
<div>mesa could be considered off-site.</div>
<br>
<div>If radiation is found in the new wells, it would show that
contaminated water had</div>
<div>migrated off the Test Site property and could be heading for
residents in Beatty</div>
<div>and the Amargosa Valley.</div>
<br>
<div>The DOE's own program for monitoring ground water chose to look at
lead,</div>
<div>carbon-14, tritium, iodine-129, uranium, cesium and plutonium
because they were</div>
<div>found in measurable quantities in water taken from the bomb cavities
or nearby</div>
<div>monitoring wells on the site. Scientists also are looking at how the
radiation</div>
<div>affects human health.</div>
<br>
<div>The DOE is not only worried about people living around the Test
Site, it also</div>
<div>must examine the ground water to prevent workers drilling sampling
wells from</div>
<div>coming in contact with radioactive water, DOE Project Manager Bob
Bangerter</div>
<div>said.</div>
<br>
<div>Tritium, iodine and carbon-14 dissolve and flow along with the
ground water.</div>
<div>Cesium, lead and plutonium normally cling to soil particles and move
at a slower</div>
<div>rate. Uranium can migrate somewhere between the other two
groups.</div>
<br>
<div>For Hechanova, who was blocked by secrecy, it took three years to
find enough</div>
<div>information to allow him to report on how much tritium was contained
in five</div>
<div>blast cavities.</div>
<br>
<div>The size of some nuclear blasts and ground-water samples taken from
nearby</div>
<div>water wells years after the explosions existed in open government
files. They gave</div>
<div>Hechanova a good estimate of the tritium inside the cavities left by
five nuclear</div>
<div>experiments: Bilby, Dalhart, Baseball, Cambric and Cheshire.</div>
<br>
<div>Bilby, a 249-kiloton blast triggered under the surface of the Test
Site's northeast</div>
<div>section in 1963, was the first underground nuclear experiment that
rocked Las</div>
<div>Vegas, about 75 miles southeast of the explosion.</div>
<br>
<div>Hechanova and former Test Site scientist James O'Donnell combed
U.S.</div>
<div>Geological Survey and national earthquake records for Bilby's
impact. It</div>
<div>registered a 5.8 on the Richter scale at the International Data
Center in Virginia.</div>
<div>"That was a good-sized bomb," Hechanova said.</div>
<br>
<div>In 1965, Cambric exploded with a force less than a kiloton -- or
less than 1,000</div>
<div>tons of TNT -- but produced extremely high tritium, nine times
larger per kiloton</div>
<div>than what was expected from such shots in or near the ground water.
Hechanova</div>
<div>has a number of theories: the nuclear device fizzled, the scientists
wanted to</div>
<div>create tritium or the results were unexpected.</div>
<br>
<div>Once Hechanova figures out the source amounts of tritium in the bomb
caverns,</div>
<div>he plans to develop a simple monitor available to anyone living near
the Test</div>
<div>Site's boundary. "Nothing like it exists now for the average
person to sample well</div>
<div>water," he said.</div>
<br>
<div>If he receives a $100,000 grant request, Hechanova hopes to develop
a tritium</div>
<div>monitor at the Harry Reid Center with assistance from UNLV
professors. "It's an</div>
early warning system that any farmer could put down his well," he
said.
<br>

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