A U.S. Department of Defense agency wants input from Kauaians on what to do with radioactive materials generated from failed missile launches on Johnston Atoll more than 40 years ago. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has scheduled the first
A U.S. Department of Defense agency wants input from Kauaians on what to do with radioactive materials generated from failed missile launches on Johnston Atoll more than 40 years ago.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has scheduled the first of four statewide meetings in Hawai’i at the Lihu’e Public Library from 5 to 8 p.m. May 21. The agency, based in Alexandria, Va., safeguards the United States and its allies from environmental impacts of weapons of mass destruction.
The agency is soliciting comments on what to do with radioactive coral, metal and concrete debris stored within a “controlled” 24-acre parcel on Johnston Island, according to Harry Stumpf, a senior environmental engineer for DTRA.
The 625-acre island is the largest of four islands that make up Johnston Atoll, which is located 800 miles west-southwest of the Hawaiian Islands.
The atoll is a federal wildlife refuge jointly managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Defense.
The closest neighbor to Hawai’i, the reefs of the atoll serve as a biological stepping stone between Hawai’i and other island groups. The coral in the atoll shares similar qualities to the coral in Hawai’i.
Stumpf said DTRA is considering options on the disposition of the stored radioactive waste, which include weapons-grade plutonium and americium, a decay product of plutonium.
If a decision is made to remove the debris, it could be sent either to a facility in Nevada the U.S. Department of Energy uses for underground weapons testing, or to a radioactive waste facility in Utah, Stumpf said. A contractor would be hired for the work, he said.
If a decision is made to leave the debris on the island, it is not likely to pose an environmental hazard, Stumpf said.
“We have examined the alternatives and there would be no impact if that was left there,” he said.
The debris was generated after 1962 when two aborted missile launches resulted in radioactive contamination of the atoll.
The atoll has been occupied by the U.S. since the mid-1930s.
Beginning in the 1960s, the U.S. established the atoll as an above-ground atmospheric nuclear missile testing range. Some Thor missile launches failed, with one scattering plutonium on Johnston Island and reefs.
The cleanup was started immediately, and over the years, DTRA has surveyed and reduced the contamination by using “specially developed technology” and has taken some materials off the island, according to the agency. All that remains is the debris stored at the 24-acre site, Stumpf said.
The debris does not pose any danger to about 1,100 military personnel and civilians working on Johnston Island, due to ongoing cleanup, Stumpf said.
“It is safe for them to live there,” he said. “DTRA has reduced the risk to human health to almost negligible amounts.”
But Dr. John Esterl, a physicist with DTRA, said fish in the atoll’s lagoon is probably not safe to eat. A consultant study done for DTRA showed the fish has significant amounts of chlorinated hydrocarbon, he said.
The presence of the chemical, however, is not related to exposure to any radioactive materials, Stumpf said.
DTRA will take public comments until June 15 on what to do with the hazardous debris.
During the cleanup of the radioactive materials, thousands of drums of Agent Orange, a defoliant used during the Vietnam War and which contains dioxin, a suspected carcinogen, were shipped to Johnston Island for stockpiling. An incinerator ship destroyed the defoliant, but not before many drums leaked, discharging dioxins and other toxic substances in the groundwater.
In the 1970s, chemical munitions, including blister agent and nerve gas, were removed from Okinawa and were stored on Johnston Island. Because of the deterioration of the munitions, the Army constructed an incinerator to destroy them.
The Air Force is working with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to dispose of 12,000 tons of dioxin residue, apparently in a controlled area, on Johnston Island, according to Lt. Christopher Anderson, a spokesman for Hickam Air Force Base.
A 60-day public review period of the plan is scheduled to start in early September, with a public meeting on it to be held at the end of that month, Anderson said.
The atoll has primarily supported the Army’s Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) program and weapons storage program since 1990, DTRA said. The federal government is now in the process of closing the JACADS plant.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
