Reid worried about possible health effects of weapons experiments

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 1999 | 2:39 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Sen. Harry Reid says he's concerned about a federal plan to burn B-52 bomber parts and toxic uranium at the Tonopah Test Range and will work to kill the plan.

Reid, a Democrat and assistant Senate minority leader, said he's worried about the possible environmental and health effects of the burn.

The experiments are to test the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons by setting fire to planes holding mock weapons tipped with depleted uranium.

"I question the need to risk the lives of all those who live downwind from the testing range by burning highly toxic uranium and beryllium," Reid said in a statement Tuesday.

"Once they are released into Southern Nevada's atmosphere, these elements will remain toxic forever, and we have no way of tracking how far these particles will travel and no way of monitoring contamination levels," he said.

Reid said he plans to send a letter to Energy Secretary Bill Richardson urging him to use computer models and simulations instead of actual burn-pit experiments.

His comments echo those from the state Environmental Protection Division's Federal Facilities Bureau.

The fire experiment facility's draft environmental assessment should discuss dispersal of more than 1 1/2 tons of depleted uranium in light of the state's previous concerns about cleanup of contaminated soils at the Tonopah Test Range, Bureau Chief Paul Liebendorfer said.

The test range is 160 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The Energy Department said the tests are needed to compare computer predictions with actual data about how B-52 fuselages and bomb bays melt in a fire.