THURSDAY April 22, 2004
Envirocare's big plan: Operation Iraqi waste |
By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON -- Envirocare of Utah is exploring the possibility of building a low-level nuclear waste dump in the Iraqi desert to store uranium-tipped munitions and tank hulls and rubble contaminated by radioactive shells used by the United States.
But the plan is on hold for now because of unrest in the war-torn nation.
"Because of events in Iraq, it's obviously not real safe for civilians to be over there right now," Tim Barney, senior vice president for Envirocare, said Wednesday. "It's hard to predict when or if the situation will stabilize to the point where that can become a reality. It could be years down the road."
The mutilation of American contractors earlier this year by an Iraqi mob and kidnapping of other civilian workers have heightened concerns about safety in the region. Halliburton, a major contractor in Iraq, has lost 33 employees since the war started.
Hundreds of tons of weapons equipped with depleted uranium were fired at Iraqi tanks during the two Gulf Wars. The depleted uranium is a byproduct of nuclear reactors and weapons refinement and is 40 percent less radioactive than normal uranium.
The munitions are either large uranium-tipped bullets or rods of the depleted uranium that are inside special tank-killer munitions. Rather than losing shape like normal shells, the uranium's density keeps its shape as it pierces tank armor. As it passes through the armor the uranium also throws off sparks that can ignite fuels or ammunition inside the targeted tank.
Veterans of the first Gulf War have expressed concern that exposure to the depleted uranium may be to blame for illnesses they now suffer.
"Going clear back to the first Gulf War, there's low-level material that needs to be cleaned up, primarily depleted uranium," Barney said. "We thought it was protective of the public health there to centralize that in a disposal facility, to get it out of the neighborhoods."
After the first war, 23 U.S. vehicles were recovered and shipped back to the United States for disposal while wrecked hulls of other burned-out tanks were piled in a "boneyard" in Kuwait.
Envirocare envisions a smaller version of the facility it operates in Clive, Utah, where it could seal contaminated material in thick cells buried underground.
The company has hired former Idaho Rep. Larry LaRocco and his firm to lobby Congress for the project. Company representatives have met with military officials and members of Congress to discuss funding the cleanup, although talks are preliminary.
Envirocare officers and the company's political action committee have contributed to political campaigns $107,125 since 1998, according to Federal Election Committee records, with most of it going to Republican candidates. Khosrow Semnani, the president and founder of the company, was born in Iran, Iraq's neighbor to the east.
Barney said it is hard to know the extent of the contamination problem, but expects the price tag for the work would be in "the millions, not the hundred millions."
Last month, Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of Deployment Health Support, said about 127 tons of depleted-uranium munitions had been used by the Army and Air Force with an unknown amount used by Marines.
More than 320 tons of depleted-uranium shells were used in the first Gulf War, the Defense Department has said.
A study by the World Health Organization said that depleted uranium "has the potential to have chemical and radiological effects on health" if exposures were high enough and recommended that heavily exposed areas should be cordoned off and cleaned up and the waste disposed of in accordance with international standards.
Steve Robinson of the National Gulf War Resource Center, which assists veterans of both Iraq wars, said the Defense Department owes it to veterans to conduct thorough studies of the health effects and it is a good idea to clean up the uranium penetrators and damaged vehicles.
"I don't know if the government is going to want to get involved in what is clearly turning out to be a problem in Iraq," he said. "If we have to start being responsible for things that we shoot up around the world it could be pretty cost-prohibitive over time."
The major health concern is the chemical toxicity of the depleted uranium, rather than exposure to radiation. Fine particles created when the ordinance strikes the tank or in a resulting fire can also be inhaled by soldiers in the immediate area, according to Defense Department studies.
Last year, a Pentagon report said that there is no evidence that depleted uranium has caused adverse health effects in troops, including 90 soldiers exposed to the material in friendly fire incidents.
Col. James Naughton of the Army Material Command said at the time that the weapons give the U.S. troops an advantage they don't want to lose.
rgehrke@sltrib.com
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