{"id":8010,"date":"2010-11-10T14:19:31","date_gmt":"2010-11-10T22:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=8010"},"modified":"2010-11-10T14:19:31","modified_gmt":"2010-11-10T22:49:31","slug":"stryker-brigade-snag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=8010","title":{"rendered":"Stryker brigade snag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kudos to Joan Conrow for monitoring the depleted uranium (DU) issue at Schofield Barracks and writing a great article in the Honolulu Weekly<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 The Army tried to move ahead with construction plans for the Stryker Brigade expansion in an area contaminated with DU.\u00a0 But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must approve all activity by the Army involving radiological materials like DU.\u00a0\u00a0 The Army only applied for a permit to “possess” DU, arguing that it intended to leave the material in place and not disturb it by any activities.\u00a0 But recently, the Army planned to burn grass and begin construction in a contaminated area, which would constitute a removal or clean up action, something not allowed under the Army’s requested permit. As Conrow reports, the NRC “snapped”.\u00a0 This may delay the Army’s plans.\u00a0\u00a0 Furthermore, it reveals the dishonesty of the Army in its handling of contamination and cultural issues.<\/p>\n

>><<<\/p>\n

Stryker brigade snag<\/a><\/h2>\n
In tense meeting, regulators snap over depleted uranium<\/div>\n
Joan Conrow<\/span> | Nov 3, 2010<\/div>\n
\n

Stryker \/ <\/span>Plans to construct a Stryker Brigade training area at Schofield Barracks ran afoul of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) because the Army has no license to handle the toxic depleted uranium there.<\/p>\n

This was underscored during the Army Corps of Engineers\u2019 Oct. 29 informational briefing to the NRC in Washington, DC. (This reporter attended the meeting via conference call.)<\/p>\n

The Corps had planned to begin the $80 million construction project this week with a controlled burn at the range. Instead, NRC staff warned the Corps that it risked sanctions if it proceeded because it has no license to possess, decommission or transport radioactive depleted uranium at Schofield.<\/p>\n

Depleted uranium from weapons likely used in training between 1962 and 1968 was discovered at Schofield Barracks in August 2005, according to information available at the NRC\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m putting you on notice that this could constitute potential deliberate violations of NRC regulations,\u201d NRC attorney Brett Klukan told Hans Honerlah, chief of the Corps\u2019 Radiation Safety Office. \u201cWe don\u2019t approve of what you\u2019re doing right now. There needs to be a review and approval of what you do. You are outside the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also disclosed at the briefing that the Army conducted an unauthorized cleanup of soil contaminated by depleted uranium at Schofield in 2008. Some of that material was already transported out of the state and some remains stored in Hawaii awaiting shipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder what legal authority did you remove this DU?\u201d Klukan asked Honerlah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an Army call,\u201d Honerlah said. \u201cWe had the choice of leaving it there or properly disposing of it, so we disposed of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you didn\u2019t really do that analysis to see if you had legal authority to dispose or transport this material,\u201d Klukan pressed.<\/p>\n

Honerlah said the cleanup work was done under the license of the Army\u2019s contractor, Cabrera Services. But NRC staff said the Army, as the owner of the radioactive material, must hold the license.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shows the Army has been playing fast and loose with the rules,\u201d said Kyle Kajihiro of Demilitarize Hawaii. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019ve found all along. They\u2019ve given misinformation to the public and to the regulators. That\u2019s why we can\u2019t trust that they [the Army] will do the right thing by the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NRC said it would investigate the 2008 clean up as part of its ongoing review of whether enforcement actions should be taken against the Army for unlicensed activities involving depleted uranium dating back to the 1960s.<\/p>\n

The dense, toxic material served as ballast in the M101 \u201cspotting rounds\u201d used in Hawaii and elsewhere for training in conjunction with the Davy Crockett recoilless gun, one of the smallest nuclear weapons ever built.<\/p>\n

The Army has applied to the NRC for a license to possess 17,600 pounds of depleted uranium at its American installations, including Schofield and Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawaii Island. But Klukan said the application was for possession only.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were never made aware the Army intended to pursue decommission,\u201d he said, adding that the NRC had advised the Army that areas with depleted uranium should not be disturbed.<\/p>\n

Klukan said the Army must either amend its application or seek a separate license to conduct the decommissioning work.<\/p>\n

Klukan also rapped the Corps for attempting to proceed with the Stryker construction project without first running its plans by the NRC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere did you get the authority to think the NRC wouldn\u2019t need to review the remediation plans?\u201d Klukan asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t think it was decommissioning,\u201d Honerlah replied. \u201cWe thought it was just cleaning up the area to make it safe for construction.\u201d<\/p>\n

NRC staff said it typically takes the agency a year to review technical plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually an applicant gives us notice of an activity of such magnitude so we can rally resources,\u201d Klukan said. \u201cYou guys want to start next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honerlah said all the plans have been completed in draft form, but only half have been finalized.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we have to notify them [NRC] and get approval of all our activities?\u201d asked a Cabrera staff member of his attorney during a break in the proceedings. The attorney, apparently unaware that his voice was not muted on the conference call, replied: \u201cI guess that depends on how they interpret what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klukan also noted that the Army claimed in its application that it did not know how much depleted uranium it actually possesses because it could not conduct a full survey of its ranges.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut now we\u2019re finding in an area where you want to do a full survey, you can. I\u2019m highly concerned about that. So it is possible to clean up the unexploded ordnance, which we were told was not possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything\u2019s possible,\u201d Honerlah said. \u201cIt\u2019s a question of cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honerlah said he would need to talk to his supervisors about how the NRC\u2019s stance would affect the construction schedule, although he did note \u201cit could take years\u201d to complete the agency\u2019s review process.<\/p>\n

Kajihiro said he hoped the delay would support efforts to gain protection for archaeological sites and burials that would be impacted by construction.<\/p><\/div>\n

All original content copyright 2010 Honolulu Weekly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kudos to Joan Conrow for monitoring the depleted uranium (DU) issue at Schofield Barracks and writing a great article in the Honolulu Weekly.\u00a0\u00a0 The Army tried to move ahead with construction plans for the Stryker Brigade expansion in an area contaminated with DU.\u00a0 But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) must approve all activity by the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Stryker brigade snag”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159,4],"tags":[2409],"class_list":["post-8010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news","category-kauai","tag-movements-resistance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8010"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8012,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010\/revisions\/8012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}