The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected requests for a hearing related to Pohakuloa Training Area’s radiation monitoring plan.
The board, under the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Tuesday the petitioners lacked standing or did not submit an admissible contention.
The petitioners — Jim Albertini, Cory Harden, Ruth Aloua and Hawane Rios — sought to intervene on an amendment for the Army’s license covering past use of depleted uranium in spotting rounds at PTA. The monitoring plan is a requirement of that license.
The M101 spotting rounds containing depleted uranium, a byproduct of uranium enrichment, were used to mimic the trajectory of projectiles related to the Davy Crockett weapons program in the 1960s. Past use of depleted uranium, a dense, weakly radioactive metal alloy, were discovered at PTA in 2008.
The amendment approved use of site-specific environmental radiation monitoring plans. The license covered depleted uranium use at other installations, including Schofield Barracks on Oahu.
Petitioners said PTA’s plan, which includes monitoring of an intermittent stream bed down slope from the impact area, doesn’t go far enough. They’ve asked for additional air monitoring or cleanup of the spotting rounds in the impact area.
“There is a need for in-depth, long term, independent air monitoring of DU and, tragically, this is being blatantly and strategically ignored,” Rios said in a written statement.
Albertini, founder of the group Malu ‘Aina, maintains the public is at risk from aerosolizatin of DU particles.
Past monitoring efforts, including use of air samples, haven’t found elevated radiation levels around PTA.
The NRC said air sampling wasn’t needed for the license.
“The staff agreed with the Army’s analysis that the air exposure pathway, including from high explosive ordnance aerosolization of DU, was highly unlikely to result in a dose greater than 1 millirem per year outside any radiation control area,” the board said. Natural background levels are about 310 millirem in the United States per year, according to the board.
The board said the petitioners didn’t establish that depleted uranium at PTA “constitutes a significant source of radioactivity” or that there is an “obvious potential for offsite consequences.”
The exact number of depleted uranium-containing spotting rounds fired at PTA or Schofield is unknown. According to the Army, 140 kilograms of depleted uranium were confirmed to have been shipped to Hawaii in the 1960s. Radiation hazard assessments were based on worst-case scenarios, according to the Army.
Meanwhile, the sediment sampling is being relocated upstream to the boundary of radiation control areas, where the spotting rounds were fired, according to the board.
“The NRC selected the sampling site to suit its criteria,” said Lt. Col. Christopher M. Marquez, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison-Pohakuloa Training Area, in a statement. “We recognize the NRC’s authority in this matter. We will comply with applicable laws, decisions and regulations.”
Email Tom Callis at tcallis@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
