[NukeNet] Depleted uranium blasts and bio too

[Marylia Kelley]

Friends, here is your summary "program" of not-so-entertaining events --

1. at the Livermore Lab main site, DOE has just announced its revised
environmental assessment for its proposed bio-warfare agent research
facility (comment period ends May 11).

2. at the Livermore Lab Site 300, the DOE has just reapplied for a permit
to conduct bigger blasts with a number of materials (including but not
limited to depleted uranium, cobalt and possibly tritium).

3. And, on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security shows up to evaluate
Site 300 for a much larger bio-warfare agent research facility than the one
proposed for the Livermore Lab main site.

Stay tuned! And, read on for one of the articles about the bigger blasts
and how healthy it is to breathe depleted uranium in finely divided
particles (really, no worries).


Livermore lab says bigger blasts would send depleted uranium into air
By Jake Armstrong
April 12, 2007
Stockton Record
Staff Writer

TRACY - Bigger outdoor blasts proposed at an explosives test range
southwest of Tracy could release up to 453 pounds of depleted uranium into
the air a year, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory officials told air
pollution regulators in an application last week.

Lab officials did not disclose that information in a November request to
the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to more than triple
the amount of explosives used in detonations at its test range, Site 300.
The district initially granted the lab permission, but revoked the permit
in March after learning the blasts would contain radioactive materials.

Depleted uranium is less radioactive than naturally occurring uranium, and
when detonated, it would be carried by wind, said Gretchen Gallegos, of the
lab's Operations and Regulatory Affairs Division. The lab has not found
radiation levels above federal thresholds at its monitoring stations, she
said.

"All of our activities are well within any health measure, and there's
nothing to be concerned about," Gallegos said.

The public will be able to give input on this new explosives request at
public meetings the dates of which are yet to be determined, said Jaime
Holt, the district's public information administrator.

District staff approved the lab's permit without any public scrutiny in
November, causing a public outcry. This time, the district will perform a
risk assessment on the blasts and review the request according to the
California Environmental Quality Act, Holt said, adding the district just
began reviewing the application and does not yet have a time line for
completion.

Lab officials want to increase the amount of explosives used in blasts from
100 pounds to 350 pounds for government tests performed at the site, which
is owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and operated by the University of
California. The explosions would be capped at 8,000 pounds a year; lab
officials said they plan only three tests per year at the 350-pound level.

Meanwhile, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials will tour Site
300 Monday to further evaluate the University of California's proposal to
locate there the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility, which would
research incurable diseases that harm humans, animals and plants. The visit
is part of a nationwide tour of 18 sites vying for the federal laboratory.
DHS officials will then shorten the list of proposals, conduct
environmental reviews of the finalists, and decide on a site in October
2008.

Contact reporter Jake Armstrong at (209) 239-3368 or jarmstrong at recordnet.com.

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia at trivalleycares.org or marylia at earthlink.net