Plutonium is still found at areas surrounding Test Site

Friday, Feb. 9, 2001 | 11:15 a.m.

As they have been for decades, trace amounts of plutonium were detected in the air surrounding the Nevada Test Site in the most recent monitoring by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Six monitors surround the Test Site, in Amargosa Valley, Goldfield and Tonopah northwest of Las Vegas, Rachel and Alamo northeast of Las Vegas and in Las Vegas itself.

The Test Site is 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The United States triggered more than 1,000 above- and below-ground nuclear weapons tests there between 1951 and 1992.

Scientists with the EPA say the trace amounts of airborne plutonium probably originated from the fallout that drifted around the world in the 1950s and '60s, when above-ground nuclear weapons experiments were conducted at the Test Site.

Plutonium has a radioactive half-life of 24,500 years, meaning that half of the radiation remains active after that period of time. Its radiation is not dangerous unless inhaled or ingested into the body, where it can cause cancers of the lung, bone or other organs.

The air-monitoring results were mentioned in the Department of Energy's annual report for 1999, the latest edition available. Assisting with the report were the EPA and the Desert Research Institute.

The EPA's Radiation and Indoor Environments National Laboratory is responsible for collecting air samples from the six monitors.

"It's the same thing we've been seeing for years and years," lab director Jed Harrison said of the plutonium captured in the monitors' filters that was detailed in the 1999 report.

David Shafer of the Desert Research Institute, an independent research facility of the University of Nevada System, also said the results are consistent with previous readings.

The report is available at local libraries and at government agencies. It is also available on the DOE website at nv.doe.gov.

Ground water outside the site was also analyzed from 23 wells and springs. No radioactivity was detected above natural levels.