Radioactive Danger: It's Not Just Coming from Japan

by Daisy and NinaO

Fukushima is not the only source of the deadly radiation threatening Americans.  The danger is much closer to home than you might think, and it's endorsed, subsidized and cloaked in secrecy by our own government.

The United States is being poisoned by the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy, to name two of the culprits.  Depleted uranium, a dangerous material prohibited by the United Nations General assembly, is seeping into our soil, water and air.  It is being transported by ship, truck and train.  Across the country, depleted uranium is being used, stored, processed or buried. 

This map shows the locations of depleted uranium facilities in the United States.. If you are unfortunate enough to be downwind of any of these places, radioactive "hot rain" could be in your future.  If you are in the continental United States, then you are likely to be in the proximity of one or more sources of DU.  Not pictured on this map are Honolulu, Hawaii and Vieques, Puerto Rico.  This map is from 1995 - since then we've spent 10 years at war using unlimited DU ammunition and weapons.

Source:  US Army Environmental Policy Institute

1	Aerojet Ordnance Company	Chino, California
2	Aerojet Ordnance Tennessee	Jonesboro, Tennessee
3	Detroit Army Tank Plant	Warren, Michigan
4	Lima Army Tank Plant	Lima, Ohio
5	Martin Marrietta Energy Systems Milan Army Ammunition Plant	Milan, Tennessee
6	Mason and Hanger at Iowa Army Ammunition Plant	Middletown, Iowa
7	National Manufacturing Corporation	St. Louis, Missouri
8	Starmet Corporation, formerly known as Nuclear Metals, Inc.	Concord, Massachusetts
9	Olin Ordnance Corporation	Red Lion, Pennsylvania
10	Specific Manufacturing Capability Facility Idaho National Engineering Laboratory	Idaho Falls, Idaho
11	Tank Automotive Command	Warren, Michigan
12	Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant, Alliant Tech Systems	New Brighton, Minnesota
13	White Sands Missile Range	Green River, Utah
14	White Sands Missile Range	White Sands, New Mexico
R & D and Test Firing Sitesback to map
15	Army Research Laboratory	APG, Maryland
16	Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs	Richland, Washington
17	Energetic Materials Research and Technology Center, formerly known as the Terminal Effects Research and Analysis(TERA) facility	Socorro, New Mexico
18	Ethan Allen Firing Range (General Electric)	Burlington, Vermont
19	Jefferson Proving Ground	Madison, Indiana
20	Los Alamos National Laboratory	Los Alamos, New Mexico
21	Manufacturing Sciences Corp.	Oak Ridge, Tennessee
22	Nevada Test Site	Mercury, Nevada
23	Picatinny Arsenal	Dover, New Jersey
24	Sandia National Laboratories	Albuquerque, New Mexico
25	Tonopah Test Range	Tonopah, Nevada
26	US Army Combat Systems Test Activity	APG, Maryland
27	Yuma Proving Ground	Yuma, Arizona
Storage and Storage/Demilitarization Sitesback to map
28	Defense Consolidation Facility	Snelling, South Carolina
29	Hawthorne Army Ammunition Plant	Hawthorne, Nevada
30	Hunter Army Airfield	Savanna, Georgia
31	Letterkenny Army Depot	Chambersberg, Pennsylvania
32	McAlester Army Ammunition Plant	McAlester, Oklahoma
33	Savanna Army Depot	Savanna, Illinois
34	Seneca Army Depot Activity	Romulus, New York
35	Sierra Army Depot	Herlong, California
36	Tooele Army Depot	Tooele, Utah
37	US Army Armament Munitions and Chemical Command	Rock Island, Illinois
38	Watervliet Arsenal	Albany, New York
Processing Sitesback to map
39	Carolina Metals	Barnwell, South Carolina
40	Sequoyah Fuels Corporation	Gore, Oklahoma
Waste Disposal Sitesback to map
41	Chem-Nuclear Systems Waste Management Facility	Barnwell, South Carolina
42	Envirocare of Utah, Inc.	Clive, Utah
43	US Ecology	Hanford, Washington
Former DU Use or Storage Sites, and Sites Being Decommissionedback to map
44	Alliant Tech Systems, Inc.	Elk river, Minnesota
45	Army Research Laboratory	Watertown, Massachusetts
46	Camp Roberts Military Reservation	Bradley, California
47	Chamberlain Manufacturing	Waterloo, Iowa
48	China Lake Naval Weapons Center Alliant Tech Systems	Ridgecrest, California
49	Ford Aerospace and Communications Corp.	San Juan Capistrano, California
50	Fort Hood	Killeen, Texas
51	Fort Riley	Junction City, Kansas
52	Fort Stewart	Hinesville, Georgia
53	Lake City Army Ammunition Plant	Independence, Missouri
54	National Lead Industries	Colonie, New York
Otherback to map
55	Nellis Air Force Firing Range *Not mentioned in the Army Technical Report, but still in use	Nevada

Another processing facility is being built in Hobbs, New Mexico. This will be the first commercially owned processing facility.

"Idaho Falls-based International Isotopes Inc. is in the licensing and design phase of an environmentally friendly, green technology, uranium de-conversion and fluorine extraction processing facility near Hobbs, N.M."

                                                                          ~ Idaho Statesman

(Well, of course, if it's an environmentally friendly plant to process deadly toxic waste, then that's a different story.)

So, what is depleted uranium and why is it so bad?

Depleted Uranium 101

Depleted Uranium (DU) is nuclear waste. Uranium naturally occurs as three different isotopes: U234, U235 and U238. U235 is fissionable, which means that U235 is so unstable that firing neutrons at it can produce a self-sustaining series of nuclear reactions, releasing huge amounts of energy. This is the basis of nuclear weapons and nuclear power.

Before U235 can be used, it must be concentrated as it only makes up a small proportion of naturally occurring uranium - around 0.7%.  After natural uranium has had most of the U235 removed from it, it is called ‘depleted uranium’.

Depleted Uranium is both chemically toxic and radioactive.  When DU burns it becomes a dust made of two oxides.  The distribution of particle sizes includes sub-micron particles that are readily inhaled into and retained by the lungs. From the lungs, uranium compounds are deposited in the lymph nodes, bones, brain and testes. Hard targets hit by DU penetrators are surrounded by this dust and surveys suggest that it can travel many kilometres when re-suspended, as is likely in arid climates. The dust can then be inhaled or ingested by civilians and the military alike.

Source:  International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

Complicit with the United States government, local leaders are allowing the FOR-PROFIT storage, use and processing of these deadly toxins.

Depleted uranium processing is a big business.  A toxic waste product, due to it's extreme density (twice that of lead) it can be processed to be used in many ways:

munitions
defense armor plating
armour penetrating military ordnance
material for the nuclear fuel industry
aircraft ballast
shielding
oil well drilling equipment
radiation shields in medical radiation therapy machines

The DOE has also proposed using DU to reinforce concrete and other building materials. 

Not only do we need to worry about the high levels of radiation from the Fukushima disaster - we must also worry about the radiation being quietly emitted from our own soil.  We must worry about radioactive rain that has originated from within our borders.  Our water is being poisoned, our crops are growing in tainted soil and the very air we breathe contains radioactive particles.

Radiation poisoning can have a wide variety of effects on the human body.  According to the ICBUW, "In one day, one microgram, (one millionth of a gram), of pure DU can release 1000 alpha particles. Each particle is charged with more than four million electron volts of energy; this goes directly into whichever organ or tissue it is lodged in. It only requires 6 to 10 electron volts to break a DNA strand in a cell....radiation damaged cells show increased rates of mutations: the precursor to cancer growth. Ionizing radiation is a human carcinogen at every dose-level, not just at high doses; there is no threshold dose and any alpha particle can cause irreparable genetic damage."  Loosely translated, if it doesn't kill you with cancer before you reproduce, the children you conceive may be born with either serious genetic mutations or cancer.

Chemical toxicity occurs when depleted uranium is exposed to moisture in the air.  It reacts to create hydrogen fluoride and uranyl fluoride gas. Uranium is a heavy metal that can be toxic to the kidneys when taken internally. Hydrogen fluoride is a corrosive acid that can be very dangerous if inhaled.

Radiation sickness can either be acute or chronic.  Acute radiation sickness occurs after a large one-time exposure.  Chronic radiation sickness occurs from a build-up of low-level radiation that accumulates in the body.

According to the Mayo Clinic website:

"The absorbed dose of radiation is measured in a unit called a gray (Gy). Diagnostic tests that use radiation, such as an X-ray, result in a small dose of radiation — typically well below 0.1 Gy, focused on a few organs or small amount of tissue.

Signs and symptoms of radiation sickness usually appear when the entire body receives an absorbed dose of at least 1 Gy. Doses greater than 6 Gy to the whole body are generally not treatable and usually lead to death within two days to two weeks, depending on the dose and duration of the exposure.

The initial signs and symptoms of treatable radiation sickness are usually nausea and vomiting. The amount of time between exposure and when these symptoms develop is an indicator of how much radiation a person has absorbed.

After the first round of signs and symptoms, a person with radiation sickness may have a brief period with no apparent illness, followed by the onset of new, more serious symptoms."

Early symptoms of radiation sickness
	Mild exposure (1-2 Gy)	Moderate exposure (2-6 Gy)	Severe exposure (6-8 Gy)	Very severe exposure (8-10 Gy or higher)
Nausea and vomiting	Within 6 hours	Within 2 hours	Within 1 hour	Within 10 minutes
Diarrhea	--	Within 8 hours	Within 3 hours	Within 1 hour
Headache	--	Within 24 hours	Within 4 hours	Within 2 hours
Fever	--	Within 3 hours	Within 1 hour	Within 1 hour
Later symptoms of radiation sickness
Dizziness and disorientation	--	--	Within 1 week	Immediate
Weakness, fatigue	Within 4 weeks	Within 1-4 weeks	Within 1 week	Immediate
Hair loss, bloody vomit and stools, infections, poor wound healing, low blood pressure	--	Within 1-4 weeks	Within 1 week	Immediate

Source: Adapted from "Bushberg JT. Radiation exposure and contamination. The Merck Manuals: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals" and "Upton AC. Radiation injury. In: Goldman L, et al., eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders Elsevier; 2007."

Treatment for radiation sickness depends upon the exposure.

For acute exposure, the initial treatment is "decontamination".  According to the Mayo Clinic website, removing your clothing and shoes reduces your exposure by up to 90%.  The skin is then washed with soap and water. The length of time between exposure and decontamination is directly proportionate to the amount of radiation exposure. 

When seeking medical care, preventative treatment will focus on reducing the damage to blood-producing bone marrow.

Internal contamination is caused by particles being inhaled or eaten.  Treatments include medication to shield the thyroid as well as medications that "bind" to the radioactive particles to help remove them from the body.

Even after death, the human body retains "hot particles" - ionized particles of radiation.  Cremation of the body leads to a high risk of environmental contamination.  Remains should be decontaminated and then buried in a sealed metal casket, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.

It was very difficult to find information when researching depleted uranium on US soil.  If Google (allegedly allied with the NSA) could be trusted, we would be led to believe that no one, in any of the locations above, has ever protested the location of these facilities near their homes or their children's schools.  We'd also believe that no viable studies have been performed in areas around these facilities and toxic waste dumps.

This leaves us with only hypotheses and a lot of question marks.  We, as concerned citizens, can summarize the following information:

1. There are numerous facilities across the United States that possess depleted uranium.
2. Depleted uranium is both chemically toxic and radioactive.
3. Radioactive isotopes cause genetic mutations and cancer when inhaled, consumed or absorbed through the skin.
4. There is big money being made from the processing and storage of depleted uranium.
5. The mainstream media is not talking about depleted uranium (another media blackout)
6. The use of depleted uranium in weapons is prohibited by Draft Convention on the prohibition of development, production, stockpiling, transfer and use of uranium weapons and on their destruction. It is considered a violation of the UN Convention on Human Rights. 

There must be an awakening of the social conscience.  A toxin that is recognized as deadly, environmentally disastrous and inhumane in use as a weapon by the vast majority of the world has no place being produced, used and stored in our country. We must hold our politicians and captains of industry accountable for the poisons they pour into our environment.   We must hold them responsible for harming the ecosystem and quite literally mutating the DNA structures of humans, plants and animals.

We must look closer to home than Fukushima for the sources of deadly radiation in the United States.  The danger is within our own borders, stamped with a seal of approval and heartily endorsed by our own government.

Co-author:  NinaO

sources and information:

Depleted Uranium: Uses and Hazards

6700 Tons of Radioactive Material Shipped from Kuwait to Idaho

International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons

Depleted Uranium and the Poisoning of Humanity

Radiation Sickness

Depleted Uranium Storage and Processing Facilities

Depleted Uranium: The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War