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DEPLETED URANIUM DETECTED IN HAWAII TRACED
TO ARMY TRAINING IN 1960s -- The DU was used in
a
classified weapons system, the Davy Crockett
recoilless
gun, which was produced from 1960 to 1968.
For more on depleted uranium (DU), use the VA
Watchdog search engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/
sessearch.php?q=depleted
+uranium&op=ph
Story here...
http://starbulletin.
com/2007/08/21/news/story04.html
Story below:
-------------------------
Uranium traced to Army training in 1960s
By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com
Aerial surveys last week of the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area
have confirmed the presence of depleted uranium used during Army
training with a classified weapon during the 1960s, Army officials said
yesterday.
More tests and monitoring are planned, they said.
The Army said it does not currently use depleted uranium in training
ammunition. There is no public access to the suspected PTA range area.
The depleted uranium was used in a classified weapons system, the Davy
Crockett recoilless gun, which was produced from 1960 to 1968.
In August 2005 a contractor discovered munitions remains that contained
depleted uranium while clearing a range at Schofield Barracks. The Army
said then the recovered items had low-level radioactivity and did not
pose a health threat.
Cabrera Services conducted an aerial survey at PTA in 2005 to determine
if the Davy Crockett was fired then and if depleted uranium was present.
The Army said a similar aerial survey conducted Aug. 13 and last Tuesday
at the impact area at the Makua Military Reservation on Oahu was
"inconclusive because the team could not see the ground due to heavy
vegetation in the suspected impact area."
Soil samples were taken both from Makua and PTA and sent to a laboratory
for analysis.
Depleted uranium, a byproduct of radioactive enriched uranium, has been
used by the U.S. military in armor-piercing munitions. Some researchers
suspect exposure to depleted uranium, or DU, might have caused chronic
fatigue and other symptoms in veterans of the first Gulf War, but there
is no conclusive evidence it has.
Meanwhile, the Army said tests of air samples taken July 30-Aug. 2 at an
area where fire was used to clear more than 1,000 acres of a training
range showed no health hazard from the burn and smoke.
Army officials said yesterday they will work with the state and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to survey training ranges at Schofield
Barracks, Makua and Pohakuloa.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
