Numerous residents of Utah have heard of the plan that Governor Gary R. Herbert proposed to bring depleted uranium to the Toole area. But what they don’t know is that the depleted uranium is hazardous now and for years to come.
“Depleted uranium isn’t particularly dangerous now, but it is radioactive,” said Eric Spreng, Outreach Director at the Healthy Environment Alliance (HEAL) of Utah, a citizen activist group. “Unlike most radioactive waste that becomes less radioactive over time, depleted uranium actually grows in radioactivity. It decays into more hazardous isotopes, such as radium and polonium.”
However, Mark Walker, Director of Media Relations at EnergySolutions, agrees to disagree.
“[The depleted uranium] could never be a problem or an issue to the state or the environment in the future. Absolutely not.”
According to the Los Alamos National Labs website (www.periodic.lanl.gov), exposure to radium can cause cancer and other body disorders, and polonium is very dangerous to handle. The damage performed by polonium “arises from the complete absorption of the energy of the alpha particle into tissue.”
Several Utahns believe that once the depleted uranium is buried in the west desert of the state, they won’t have to worry about it for generations. However, this is not the case, as the depleted uranium begins multiplying rapidly.
“After a few thousand years [of multiplying], depleted uranium will exceed the hazard limit that is allowed into the state of Utah. After 500,000 years, it will be more hazardous than spent fuel rods pulled from a nuclear reactor,” said Spreng.
On the other hand, Walker said “Disposing of the depleted uranium at our Clive site insures no problem for Utah, as our staff handles it properly.”
On the HEAL Utah website (www.healutah.org), EnergySolutions, the company under contract to bring the depleted uranium to Utah, is only responsible for the uranium for 500 years. However, there is one problem with that seemingly simple equation the scientists at EnergySolutions forgot to look over.
The problem is the fact that depleted uranium keeps multiplying speedily. It doesn’t stop increasing once the 500-year calendar is crossed off. The uranium will also begin to take over the site where it is being dumped, and cause even more problems for the nearby residents.
The HEAL Utah website states that the site in western Utah where the new depleted uranium is going is currently home to 49,000 tons of depleted uranium from past cleanups nationwide already. Since 740,000 more tons of it will begin showing up in the very near future, according to HEAL Utah, be prepared for anything to happen to any potential descendants.
For students who wish to delve deeper into EnergySolution’s side of this issue, feel free to take a tour of their facility.
The EnergySolutions facility is located at 423 West 300 South, Suite 200 in Salt Lake City. For more information, go to (www.energysolutions.com).