More radioactive leaks discovered

Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary has revealed that 13 additional underground nuclear weapons experiments at the Nevada Test Site leaked small amounts of radioactive gases on the site.

These leaks were unknown when the Department of Energy in May 1990 published its first report on radioactive releases from nuclear experiments in Nevada, O'Leary said Tuesday.

In December 1993 and June 1994, when O'Leary declassified information related to previously unannounced nuclear weapons tests and simultaneous detonations known as "string-of-pearl" experiments, DOE scientists began to review contractors' notes.

Of a total of 433 experiments that leaked at the site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, 52 of them drifted off-site, according to the latest 276-page report covering underground nuclear experiments from 1961 through 1992. In 1992, President George Bush imposed a nuclear test ban that is still effective today.

None of the 13 newly uncovered leaks released radioactivity off-site. The 52 off-site releases were reported by the DOE or its predecessor, the Atomic Energy Commission, to news outlets.

When the DOE reviewed source materials from its contractors, the radioactive releases were discovered, said DOE spokesman Greg Cook of the Nevada Operations Office.

All of the 13 releases were minute radioactive gas leaks, O'Leary said. The 13 tests and dates of release are: Kasseri, Oct. 28, 1975; Colby, May 16, 1976; Farm, Oct. 18, 1982; Burzet, Dec. 14, 1982; Nessel, Dec. 14, 1982; Colwick, Oct. 18, 1982; Kash, Oct. 18, 1982; Tafi, Oct. 18, 1982; Tilci, Oct. 26, 1982; Akavi, Oct. 26, 1982; Roquefort, Aug. 6, 1986; Comstock, July 12, 1989; and Misty Echo, gases detected between Jan. 26 and April 19, 1989.