Plan for uranium disposal is criticized

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999 | 11:53 a.m.

A Nevada environmental official and a statewide military watchdog group expressed safety concerns about a Department of Energy plan to burn almost two tons of depleted uranium at the Tonopah Test Range.

Nevada federal facilities bureau chief Paul Liebendorfer said the plan to burn B-52 bomber parts along with the depleted uranium had "some major deficiencies."

Liebendorfer, a U.S. Public Health Service employee who works in a branch of the Nevada Environmental Protection Division, said the plan does not adequately address the dispersal of the materials, referring to about 1.8 tons of depleted uranium that will be used for stockpile stewardship tests at a fire experiment facility.

Depleted uranium is a by-product from the process to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel. It is radioactive but contains less uranium-235 than is found in natural uranium.

The Rural Alliance for Military Accountability based in Reno called for a full environmental impact statement for the project.

The DOE's assessment fails to include adequate monitoring and does not address decommissioning or water discharged from the facility's burn pit, Rural Alliance Executive Director Grace Potorti wrote in a report.