By JOE ROBERTSON
Date: 01/24/01 22:15

The alarm about depleted uranium in the debris-strewn battlefields in the Balkans and the Persian Gulf is turning many eyes back to potential dangers as close as the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in eastern Jackson County.

The presence of depleted uranium is nothing new at Lake City. The Army in 1986 cleaned two buildings in which munitions with depleted uranium had been manufactured and shaped. It has been cleaning contaminated areas around a pair of firing ranges since 1993, records show.

Officials at a public hearing Tuesday at Lake City assured the community that the depleted uranium remaining at Lake City presents no urgent health risk to people on the plant grounds or in the surrounding area. Still, the news from foreign shores and questions surrounding plant records prior to the 1980s had some onlookers feeling uncertain about the government's response.

Scientists are always gathering new information about the short- and long-term health effects of waste buried in the past, said Greg Perry, a member of a citizens advisory board that is overseeing the cleanup at Lake City and held Tuesday's meeting. He said the communities around the ammunition plants should not let down their guard.

"It seems to me, with all this hazardous waste, anybody who lives in this area ought to be involved and asking the right questions," Perry said.

Depleted uranium refers to the leftover material when the fissionable uranium that is used in making bombs is removed. The depleted uranium, which is still radioactive, is heavier than lead and has been used in recent years as the core of various munitions that are typically designed to penetrate the armor of tanks.

It is what happens when these munitions explode and scatter airborne dust that has drawn international attention. Some NATO nations have given soldiers on peacekeeping missions in the Balkans leave to return home if they are concerned about depleted uranium. Veterans groups for soldiers who served in the Persian Gulf War have been blaming depleted uranium for long-term illnesses, including leukemia and other cancers. The Department of Defense says there is no clear link that depleted uranium caused the illnesses.

Army officials say health concerns at Lake City do not compare to the concerns on battlefields. Lake City has not produced or test-fired any munitions with depleted uranium, or DU, since the mid-1970s, officials say.

"It's important to understand, we have never produced any ammunition with DU that was used in the Balkans or the Persian Gulf," said Col. Ronald Alberto, the commander at Lake City.

Mitchell Sherzinger, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources' project manager at Lake City, said depleted uranium ranked well below other compounds at Lake City in potential health risks to the public.

"The biggest threat would be if it got in the groundwater," he said. "We monitor it, and we don't see it."

While plant officials say they have found documents outlining precautions the Army took in handling the radioactive material during the '60s and '70s, the full extent of health risks incurred from that era remains unclear.

"We'll research," said the plant's contract operations officer, Bill Melton, while addressing residents at the hearing. "We can do the math and science and find an answer."

Perry suggested that the community keep watch as the cleanup continued, in light of the fact that "all these people on other shores are getting pretty concerned about it."

To reach Joe Robertson, call (816) 234-7806 or send e-mail to
jrobertson@kcstar.com