U.S. Importing 6,700 Tons of Radioactive Sand From Kuwait
from legitgov
Sand contaminated with DU and lead from U.S. Army base in Kuwait to be shipped to Idaho. Longshoremen should finish unloading 6,700 tons of sand contaminated with depleted uranium and lead Tuesday afternoon, said Chad Hyslop, spokesman for the disposal company American Ecology. The BBC Alabama arrived at the Port of Longview (WA) Saturday afternoon with the 306 containers carrying the contaminated sand from Camp Doha, a U.S. Army base in Kuwait. Half of the containers will be loaded onto 76 rail cars and transported to the company’s disposal site in Idaho. The other half will remain at the port until the trains return to haul them to Idaho. State Department of Health personnel are at the port to test radiation levels and to ensure none of the sand spills [!], Hyslop said.
Crews moving contaminated sand from ship to rail
By Erik Olson
Longshoremen should finish unloading 6,700 tons of sand contaminated with depleted uranium and lead Tuesday afternoon, said Chad Hyslop, spokesman for the disposal company American Ecology.
The BBC Alabama arrived at the port Saturday afternoon with the 306 containers carrying the contaminated sand from Camp Doha, a U.S. Army base in Kuwait. The sand was packaged in bags designed to transport hazardous waste.
Longshoremen unloaded the containers in two shifts Sunday, then two more Monday, Hyslop said. They wore standard safety gear, and dust protection equipment and respirators were available, he said.
However, no one has opted to wear the respirators, he said.
“It’s gone real smooth,” Hyslop said.
Half of the containers will be loaded onto 76 rail cars and transported to an American Ecology disposal site in Idaho. The other half will remain at the port until the trains return to haul them to Idaho. The containers all will be at the disposal site in Idaho within 15 to 30 days, Hyslop said.
State Department of Health personnel are at the port to test radiation levels and to ensure none of the sand spills, Hyslop said. U.S. Customs agents also were on hand to inspect the cargo, he said.
The sand became contaminated with low levels of depleted uranium following a fire at Camp Doha during the first Gulf War in 1991, according to Hyslop and Army sources. The Army then discovered potentially hazardous levels of lead in the shipment.
Hyslop said he’s been happy with the job the port and other government agencies have done in helping with the transport of the material.
“We’re extremely pleased and impressed with the outstanding professionalism of the Port of Longview,” he said.
RELATED STORIES
April 15: Contaminated sand from Gulf War to pass through Longview
April 22: Arrival of toxic sand delayed
April 24: Kuwaiti sand bound for Longview has high levels of lead; extended stay likely
http://www.tdn.com/…
Contaminated sand from Gulf War to pass through Longview
By Erik Olson
A ship carrying 6,700 tons of sand contaminated with low levels of hazardous waste at a U.S. Army base in Kuwait during the first Gulf War will be unloaded at the Port of Longview on April 22.
The vessel BBC Alabama is delivering 306 containers of the sand, which contains low levels of uranium, to the port, which will then be loaded onto trains bound for a disposal site in Grand View, Idaho, said Doug Averett, the port’s director of operations.
A cleanup contractor packaged the contaminated sand in bags designed to hold hazardous waste and then placed them in a container, said Chad Hyslop, project manager for Idaho-based American Ecology, the company responsible for disposing of the material.
Longshoremen will not directly handle contaminated material — only the containers holding it, according to the port.
The shipment is safe, Hyslop said, because the concentration of uranium in the sand is so low — about 10 parts per trillion. That concentration — about 0.00000000001 percent — is about five to 10 times higher than the concentration of uranium found in concrete or wall board, he said.
“We’re talking about levels that you see in nature,” Hyslop said.
American Ecology was required to get permission to dispose of the sand from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The sand contains “unimportant quantities of source material,” according to a Sept. 13 letter from the agency to the U.S. Army that The Daily News obtained from the port.
Mike Wilcox, vice president of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union local 21, said he initially was concerned about the safety of longshoremen and the entire community when he heard a shipment of depleted uranium was coming into Longview.
“You hear ‘depleted uranium,’ and I don’t know what it is, but it’s dangerous,” Wilcox said.
His fears were allayed after meeting with port officials Monday and learning the radiation levels are so low, Wilcox said. In his 12 years as a longshoremen, Wilcox said he’s never seen a shipment of hazardous materials.
And he hopes it’s a one-time thing.
“We don’t really want it again,” Wilcox said.
Longshoremen are receiving further instruction later in the week on how to handle the cargo, Wilcox said. American Ecology was required to file a spill-response plan with the government for transporting the material, Hyslop said.
The Port of Longview was chosen because of its proximity to Idaho, easy access to rail lines and its professional staff, Hyslop said.
Amiercan Ecology’s disposal site in Grand View, Idaho, is licensed to accept low-level radioactive waste.
The sand in Kuwait became contaminated following a fire at Camp Doha in Kuwait in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. An ammunition carrier holding depleted uranium rounds caught in the fire, contaminating the ground, according to Hyslop.
Any contamination on foreign lands must be shipped back to the United States for disposal, Hyslop said.
American Ecology already disposed of contaminated metal from the Camp Doha site in 2005, Hyslop said. That material had a higher concentrations of depleted uranium, he said.
