POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA — As a 200-acre brush fire continues to burn here, concern is rising over whether depleted uranium from spotting rounds used as part of the Davy Crockett program in the 1960s is being released into the atmosphere.
POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA — As a 200-acre brush fire continues to burn here, concern is rising over whether depleted uranium from spotting rounds used as part of the Davy Crockett program in the 1960s is being released into the atmosphere.
The fire, located within the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area about 10 miles in on the Mauna Loa side of Daniel K. Inouye Highway, has been burning since 11:30 a.m. March 24, said PTA Fire Chief Eric Moller. It started during live-fire training within the an impact area, but a distance from areas where the Army in 2006 confirmed depleted uranium (DU) remains from spotting rounds used as part of the Davy Crockett program in the 1960s.
“This fire is well over two miles from where that weapons arc is,” Moller said, indicating the area on a map before pointing from Range 3 in a northerly direction, adding that the arc, for the most part, is within a lava flow with little to no vegetation.
To get there, the fire would have to be fanned from the south, which Moller said is unlikely given Mauna Loa towers behind and prevailing east-west winds. The flames would also have to get over a barren 1/2-mile-wide a’a lava flow.
Despite assurance from Army officials, questions and concerns are being raised by individuals about the fire and its proximity to areas where the spotting rounds that contained DU, a dense, weakly radioactive metal alloy left over from the uranium enrichment process, were fired amid the Cold War.
“It’s not the threat of the PTA fire spreading off the base that is an issue. It’s what’s blowing in the smoke and wind from that fire that’s been burning for 10 days. Pohakuloa has been bombed for 70 years with a wide variety of weapons. There is depleted uranium (DU) and other military toxins in the Pohakuloa Impact area, the amount never adequately studied despite repeated requests,” reads a letter signed by Jim Albertini, president of Malu Aina Center For Non-violent Education and Action, Clarence Ku Ching, Isaac “Paka” Harp, Cory Harden, Dr./Major Doug Rokke, former Director US Army DU project, and Dr. Carol Murry, doctor of public health.
According to the World Health Organization, people can be exposed to DU through inhalation, ingestion and contact. Inhalation is most common and occurs after the use of DU munitions in conflict or when DU in the environment is re-suspended in the atmosphere by wind or other disturbance. DU has both chemical and radiological toxicity known to affect the kidneys and the lungs. Health consequences are determined by the physical and chemical nature of the depleted uranium, as well as the level and duration of exposure.
Albertini and others say the military, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Hawaii Department of Health do not know where or how much DU lies within Pohakuloa.
“The people (Army) are saying there’s not enough DU up there to cause a concern, but the fact is they don’t know how much DU is up there because they’ve never done the comprehensive testing — it’s all speculation,” Albertini said Monday. “The burden is on them to allow for this independent testing because we can’t trust you.”
Albertini and others want to see air quality monitoring at the Army installation to ensure DU and other “military toxins” are not being aerosolized and dispersed by winds.
After iterating that the fire is far from areas where DU has been identified, the Army also noted that DU only aerosolizes at very high temperatures, much higher than those temperatures produced by brush or range fires.
According to Moller, a “cold fire,” like is occurring at PTA, burns around 900 degrees while a heavy metal, like DU, which is twice as dense as lead, requires much more heat to aerosolize, well over 1,000 degrees higher than the 900 degrees.
In a 2008 report, the military released results from monitoring of air quality during burning of vegetation free of DU and confirmed to have DU present at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. Soil samples from an area confirmed to have DU showed it present before and after the burn.
“The air filters collected during the test burn did not identify any increase in uranium activity concentration compared to the pre-burn air filters and no evidence of uranium depletion was found in the air filter results,” the study reads. “These results confirm that there was no measurable hazard during burning activities.”
“We appreciate the community’s interest, and we want to assure the community — especially those of us who live and work in the immediate area — that we take everyone’s safety seriously,” said Lt. Col. Jake Peterson, commander, U.S. Army Garrison-Pohakuloa. “If people do have questions about DU, we encourage them to check out our website and get the facts.”
Though the blaze continues to produce smoke, it is contained thanks to that a’a flow separating it from an area where DU has been identified, and another pahoehoe flow providing natural fire breaks, Moller said. The smoke is being generated by the fire crawling underground through duff (a layer of decaying vegetation found growing vegetation) and igniting material above ground, leaving sporadic circular burn areas separated by untouched land.
“There’s zero chance of escape,” Moller said during a tour within the burn area as a pueo glided above. The closest vegetation is more than a mile away.
He expects the fire will smolder for the next several days as firefighters cannot actively douse the flames because of the threat of unexploded ordnance within the impact area.
“We don’t go in, we don’t fight it because it’s just too dangerous,” Moller said.
Firefighters are instead focusing efforts on a 100-yard stretch of roadway to keep the fire from crossing spreading into protected areas. No endangered species, range facilities or critical habitat is threatened.
