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Title: The Concentration and Distribution of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be) in Soil and Air on Illeginni Island at Kwajalein Atoll

Abstract

Re-entry vehicles on missiles launched at Vandenberg Air Force base in California re-enter at the Western Test Range, the Regan Test Site (RTS) at Kwajalein Atoll. An environmental Assessment (EA) was written at the beginning of the program to assess potential impact of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be), the major RV materials of interest from a health and environmental perspective. The chemical and structural form of DU and Be in RVs is such that they are insoluble in soil water and sea water. Consequently, residual concentrations of DU and Be observed in soil on the island are not expected to be toxic to plant life because there is essentially no soil to plant uptake. Similarly, due to their insolubility in sea water there is no uptake of either element by marine biota including fish, mollusks, shellfish and sea mammals. No increase in either element has been observed in sea life around Illeginni Island where deposition of DU and Be has occurred. The critical terrestrial exposure pathway for U and Be is inhalation. Concentration of both elements in air over the test period (1989 to 2006) is lower by a factor of 10,000 than the most restrictive U.S. guideline formore » the general public. Uranium concentrations in air are also lower by factors of 10 to 100 than concentrations of U in air in the U.S. measured by the EPA (Keith et al., 1999). U and Be concentrations in air downwind of deposition areas on Illeginni Island are essentially indistinguishable from natural background concentrations of U in air at the atolls. Thus, there are no health related issues associated with people using the island.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
897940
Report Number(s):
UCRL-TR-222048
TRN: US0701611
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; 99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; BERYLLIUM; DEPLETED URANIUM; DEPOSITION; DISTRIBUTION; INHALATION; MAMMALS; MISSILES; RECOMMENDATIONS; REENTRY; SEAS; SOILS; URANIUM; US EPA; WATER

Citation Formats

Robison, W L, Hamilton, T F, Martinelli, R E, Gouveia, F J, Lindman, T R, and Yakuma, S C. The Concentration and Distribution of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be) in Soil and Air on Illeginni Island at Kwajalein Atoll. United States: N. p., 2006. Web. doi:10.2172/897940.
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Robison, W L, Hamilton, T F, Martinelli, R E, Gouveia, F J, Lindman, T R, & Yakuma, S C. The Concentration and Distribution of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be) in Soil and Air on Illeginni Island at Kwajalein Atoll. United States. doi:10.2172/897940.
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Robison, W L, Hamilton, T F, Martinelli, R E, Gouveia, F J, Lindman, T R, and Yakuma, S C. Thu . "The Concentration and Distribution of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be) in Soil and Air on Illeginni Island at Kwajalein Atoll". United States. doi:10.2172/897940. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/897940.
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@article{osti_897940,
title = {The Concentration and Distribution of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be) in Soil and Air on Illeginni Island at Kwajalein Atoll},
author = {Robison, W L and Hamilton, T F and Martinelli, R E and Gouveia, F J and Lindman, T R and Yakuma, S C},
abstractNote = {Re-entry vehicles on missiles launched at Vandenberg Air Force base in California re-enter at the Western Test Range, the Regan Test Site (RTS) at Kwajalein Atoll. An environmental Assessment (EA) was written at the beginning of the program to assess potential impact of Depleted Uranium (DU) and Beryllium (Be), the major RV materials of interest from a health and environmental perspective. The chemical and structural form of DU and Be in RVs is such that they are insoluble in soil water and sea water. Consequently, residual concentrations of DU and Be observed in soil on the island are not expected to be toxic to plant life because there is essentially no soil to plant uptake. Similarly, due to their insolubility in sea water there is no uptake of either element by marine biota including fish, mollusks, shellfish and sea mammals. No increase in either element has been observed in sea life around Illeginni Island where deposition of DU and Be has occurred. The critical terrestrial exposure pathway for U and Be is inhalation. Concentration of both elements in air over the test period (1989 to 2006) is lower by a factor of 10,000 than the most restrictive U.S. guideline for the general public. Uranium concentrations in air are also lower by factors of 10 to 100 than concentrations of U in air in the U.S. measured by the EPA (Keith et al., 1999). U and Be concentrations in air downwind of deposition areas on Illeginni Island are essentially indistinguishable from natural background concentrations of U in air at the atolls. Thus, there are no health related issues associated with people using the island.},
doi = {10.2172/897940},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Apr 27 00:00:00 EDT 2006},
month = {Thu Apr 27 00:00:00 EDT 2006}
}
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DOI:  10.2172/897940
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    Re-entry vehicles on missiles launched from Vandenberg Air Force base in California re-enter at the Western Test Range, the Regan Test Site (RTS) at Kwajalein Atoll. An Environmental Assessment (EA) was written at the beginning of the program to assess potential impact of DU and Be, the major RV materials of interest from a health and environmental perspective, for both ocean and land impacts. The chemical and structural form of Be and DU in RVs is such that they are insoluble in soil water and seawater. Thus, they are not toxic to plant life on the isalnd (no soil tomore » plant uptake.) Similarly, due to their insolubility in sea water there is no uptake of either element by fish, mollusks, shellfish, sea mammals, etc. No increase in either element has been observed in sea life around Illeginnin Island where deposition of DU and Be has occured. The critical terrestrial exposure pathway for U and Be is inhalation. Concentration of both elements in air over the test period (1989 to 2006) is lower by a factor of nearly 10,000 than the most restrictive U.S. guideline for the general public. Uranium concentrations in air are also lower by factors of 10 to 100 than concentrations of U in air in the U.S. measured by the EPA (Keith et al., 1999). U and Be concentrations in air downwind of deposition areas on Illeginni Island are essentially indistinguishable from natural background concentrations of U in air at the atolls. Thus, there are no health related issues associated with people using the island.« less

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    Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) personnel have supported US Air Force (USAF) ballistic missile flight tests for about 15 years for Peacekeeper and Minuteman missiles launched at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB). Associated re-entry vehicles (RV's) re-enter at Regan Test Site (RTS) at the US Army base at Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) where LLNL has supported scoring, recovery operations for RV materials, and environmental assessments. As part of ongoing USAF ballistic missile flight test programs, LLNL is participating in an updated EA being written for flights originating at VFAB. Marine fauna and sediments (beach-sand samples) were collected by US Fish andmore » Wildlife Service (USFWS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and LLNL at Illeginni Island and Boggerik Island (serving as a control site) at Kwajalein Atoll. Data on the concentration of DU (hereafter, U) and Be in collected samples was requested by USFWS and NMFS to determine whether or not U and Be in RV's entering the Illeginni area are increasing U and Be concentrations in marine fauna and sediments. LLNL agreed to do the analyses for U and Be in support of the EA process and provide a report of the results. There is no statistically significant difference in the concentration of U and Be in six species of marine fauna from Illeginni and Boggerik Islands (p - 0.14 for U and p = 0.34 for Be). Thus, there is no evidence that there has been any increase in U and Be concentrations in marine fauna as a result of the missile flight test program. Concentration of U in beach sand at Illeginni is the same as soil and beach sand in the rest of the Marshall Islands and again reflects an insignificant impact from the flight test program. Beach sand from Illeginni has a mean concentration of Be higher than that from the control site, Boggeik Island. Seven of 21 samples from Ileginni had detectable Be. Four samples had a concentration of Be ranging from 4 to 7 ng g {sup -1} (4 to 7 parts per billion (ppb)), one was 17 ppb, one was 0.14 parts per million (ppm), and one was 0.48 ppm. These extremely low concentrations of an insoluble form of Be again indicate no impact on marine life or human health at Illeginni as a result of the missile flight test program. Concentration of Fe in marine fauna muscle tissue is much higher at Illeginni Island than at Boggerik Island (control site) as a result of legacy iron piers, dump sites for iron metal along the island, and scrap iron randomly distributed along extensive portions of the reef line as part of programs conducted in the 1960's through 1980's that were not part of the recent flight test program.« less

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    Bioremediation technology is being evaluated for use on the Kwajalein Atoll, which is located in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The study was undertaken by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) on behalf of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA). During February of 1991, a team from ORNL and The University of Tennessee (UT) visited the USAKA. In addition to making on-site observations regarding microbial abundance and distribution of petroleum contaminants, they brought back to Oak Ridge various soil and water samples for detailed analyses. This report documents the biological studies of these samples and presents observations made duringmore » the period from February to April of 1991 by investigators at ORNL, UT, and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities.« less