[Peace-discuss] depleted uranium use in coastal waters

[Dlind49 at aol.com]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134612147_navy09m.html

The Seattle Times
January 9, 2003

Navy's ammo has environmentalists, others up in arms 
By Ray Rivera and Craig Welch
Seattle Times staff reporters


-A United Nations subcommission has asked for a ban on
DU weapons, claiming they're inhumane. The World
Health Organization in January 2001 recommended
further health-risk studies. In January 2001, NATO
declined to ban depleted-uranium weapons as requested
by Italy, Germany, Norway and Greece — primarily under
pressure from the U.S. 
  
 
U.S. Navy exercises that fire depleted-uranium rounds
off the coast of Washington have raised concerns among
environmentalists, but Navy officials say the
deep-ocean operations pose no danger. 

The controversial munitions are used by all the
services for their armor-piercing capabilities. They
are largely credited for the swift and one-sided tank
clashes in the 1991 Gulf War, where they were first
used in combat. 

But for years, soldiers and civilians in several
countries have feared ill health effects from the
toxic metal, which is a byproduct of natural uranium
when it's turned into nuclear fuel for reactors. Iraqi
doctors have blamed the material for a sharp increase
in cancer and birth defects following the war. U.S.
veterans groups also believe it may be linked to the
mysterious Gulf War syndrome. And countries in Europe
have complained that the United States hasn't always
been forthright about its health risks. 

The Navy uses the munitions in its Phalanx
anti-missile-defense system that sends thousands of
20mm depleted-uranium (DU) rounds into the air to
knock down incoming missiles. Essentially a large
Gatling gun, Phalanx serves as a "last ditch" defense
if missile-to-missile systems fail to hit their
target. The guns fire 80 rounds a second, 3,000 rounds
a minute. 

The guns are required to be certified quarterly, which
requires firing up to 300 rounds per gun over sea
ranges, including a range about 40 miles west of Neah
Bay. That range is from 800 to 1,400 fathoms deep and
abuts the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. 

The rounds are 40 percent less radioactive than
naturally occurring uranium found in seawater, the
Navy says. But Navy officials say that as the rounds
dissolve, they can't be distinguished from background
radiation. 

The weapons are found on all surface ships, but the
Navy has been slowly phasing out DU rounds in favor of
tungsten munitions, said Cmdr. Karen Sellers,
spokeswoman for the Navy's Pacific Northwest Region.
She could not say why the Navy was switching rounds. 

Navy officials could not say yesterday how often the
Washington range is used, but Sellers said most tests
are done off the coast of California or in the open
sea. 

Local peace activist Glen Milner learned of the tests
after obtaining an internal Navy memo dated June 25,
2001, giving the Everett-based destroyer USS Fife the
green light to conduct gunnery operations. 

"How can the Navy fire depleted-uranium rounds and
spread radioactive material into prime fishing areas
off our coast?" asked Dave Mann, a Seattle
environmental attorney. A coalition of peace and
environmental groups is considering filing an
injunction to stop future DU operations off the coast.

The Department of Defense has sent mixed signals. In
1993, the military required all soldiers participating
in exercises involving DU to be tested for DU and
related oxide particles in the feces, said Dr. Doug
Rokke, a former Army health physicist and opponent of
DU use. At the same time, the military says there is
no evidence showing the material is dangerous. 

"First off, when you fire the Navy Phalanx, you're
going to have DU contamination on the end of the
barrel and on the ship where they're fired," Rokke
said. "These things are fired thousands of rounds a
minute, and if you're near any sanctuary that's simply
irresponsible, you simply don't take solid radioactive
waste and throw it in somebody's back yard." 

DU is only mildly radioactive, but it has a half-life
of 4.5 billion years. And the Pentagon revealed two
years ago that some DU munitions were contaminated
with more highly radioactive substances, such as
plutonium. 

Defense analysts also question whether the munitions
are toxic. 

"The science is not clear here," said Patrick Garrett,
an associate analyst with GlobalSecurity.Org, a
Washington D.C.-based think tank. "The military tells
you these things are OK unless you're on the receiving
end of this weapon, but civilians and other doctors
and scientists have been looking at this issue and
screaming bloody murder about it for a long time, and
it's not readily apparent what the long-term health
impacts are." 

A United Nations subcommission has asked for a ban on
DU weapons, claiming they're inhumane. The World
Health Organization in January 2001 recommended
further health-risk studies. In January 2001, NATO
declined to ban depleted-uranium weapons as requested
by Italy, Germany, Norway and Greece — primarily under
pressure from the U.S. 

In 1999, Canadian fishermen were outraged to learn the
Canadian navy had left several tons of depleted
uranium on the ocean floor off the coast of Nova
Scotia. The radioactive rounds were fired from ships
with Phalanx weapons systems. The navy insisted there
was no danger.