Military investigating possible radiation hazard at Fort Bliss

The military is investigating a potential radiation hazard at a Cold War-era nuclear weapons bunker near El Paso, the El Paso Times has learned.

Army officials are discussing the issue at a 9 a.m. news conference today at Fort Bliss. A press release said the purpose of the news conference was to "make an important announcement about the future of Fort Bliss." Post officials had scheduled a similar news conference for last Friday but canceled it the day before.

Fort Bliss spokesman Maj. Joe Buccino said officials currently believe the risk to the broader community was "fairly negligible," though people who worked in the bunker might have more significant risk. One particular worry would be ingestion of chips of epoxy paint that was used to seal off such bunkers, but might have become loose over the years.

An investigation in recent weeks found levels of alpha and beta radiation in the bunker, but not the more-dangerous gamma radiation, Buccino said.

"We sealed it, we closed it off," he said.

Fort Bliss officials declined to elaborate in advance of this morning's press conference. But information obtained by the El Paso Times indicates the radiation was found inside Building 11507 at Biggs Army Airfield, part of a complex of nine igloo-style bunkers in an area known as "Snake Pit."

The irradiated bunker and other nearby bunkers that were once used to assemble nuclear bomb sections are currently used to store equipment for National Guard units that are preparing for deployment.

The testing was ordered after an Air Force veteran who served at Biggs in the 1950s recently told military officials about an incident involving nuclear weapons waste that was generated during maintenance. He said the bunker floor was painted over to mitigate possible radioactive particles.

Another retiree told a similar story, according to information obtained by the Times.

Recent tests by an Air Force physicist found low levels of alpha and beta particles on the building floor.

The investigation is continuing into the extent of possible radioactive contamination in other bunkers used to store nuclear weapons at Biggs in the 1950s, Buccino said. He said it wasn't yet clear what impact the radiation levels might have on future operations at Fort Bliss, which took over the Biggs land when the Air Force closed the base in 1966.

The Army today will release four phone numbers to be used by people, civilian or military, who worked in the storage bunkers over the years. Military officials are trying to track down the former workers to inform them of the potential risks and also to get a more complete picture of how the bunkers operated over the years.

Rep. Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat who sits on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said the focus is on veterans and soldiers who might have been affected by exposure to radiation.

"I am working with Maj. Gen. (Sean) MacFarland and Fort Bliss leadership to ensure that all necessary measures are taken to protect, inform, and help anyone who might have been affected," O'Rourke said.

Rep. Pete Gallego, an Alpine Democrat who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, urged the public to be calm.

"It is important that we be guided by facts and not fear. The safety and well-being of our servicemen and women is the top priority. Maj. Gen. MacFarland has responded to this situation in a transparent manner that puts the safety of soldiers and civilians first," Gallego said.

Fort Bliss today has more than 32,000 soldiers and 11,000 civilian employees, making it the nation's second-largest military installation after Fort Hood, Texas. When combined with White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico, it has 3.3 million acres of training area, about 25 percent of the Army's total training space.

Fort Bliss saw the largest gains of any military post in the 2006 Base Realignment and Closure process, adding almost 20,000 soldiers. Much of that growth was in the old Biggs Air Force Base area east of El Paso International Airport.

Biggs Air Force Base was part of the Strategic Air Command, the Air Force's atomic bomber fleet, from 1948 to 1966. The based housed a variety of nuclear-capable bombers during the Cold War, including B-29s, B-36s, B-47s and B-52s.

In May 1957, a B-36 based at Biggs accidentally dropped a 10-megaton hydrogen bomb - one of the most powerful nuclear weapons ever in the U.S. arsenal - outside of Albuquerque as it was flying to Kirtland Air Force Base. The 42,000-pound bomb's fissile core had been removed as a safety precaution, and only conventional explosives were detonated, according to Air Force records released to the Albuquerque Journal in 1986.

No radiation was detected outside the 12-foot-deep, 25-foot-wide crater left by the blast, and the only casualty was a cow that was grazing nearby when the bomb struck.

El Paso and southern New Mexico played key roles in the development of the nuclear age. The world's first nuclear weapon was exploded at Trinity Site near Alamogordo in July 1945, weeks before atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Wernher von Braun and other captured German rocket scientists were brought to Fort Bliss at the end of World War II, where they did much of the early work that led to the development of U.S. nuclear missile and space exploration capability.

Robert Moore may be reached at bmoore@elpasotimes.com; 546-6149. Follow him on Twitter @BobMooreNews

Radiation explained
According to the World Nuclear Association, ionizing radiation that can damage living tissue comes in three different forms -- alpha, beta and gamma radiation. Alpha and beta radiation has been detected in an old nuclear storage bunker at Fort Bliss. Gamma radiation has not been detected. Here's a description of those radiation forms from the WNA:

Alpha particles: These are helium nuclei consisting of two protons and two neutrons and are emitted from naturally occurring heavy elements such as uranium and radium, as well as from some man-made transuranic elements. They are intensely ionizing but cannot penetrate the skin, so are dangerous only if emitted inside the body.

Beta particles: These are fast-moving electrons emitted by many radioactive elements. They are more penetrating than alpha particles, but easily shielded - they can be stopped by a few millimeters of wood or aluminum. They can penetrate a little way into human flesh but are generally less dangerous to people than gamma radiation. Exposure produces an effect like sunburn, but is slower to heal. Beta-radioactive substances are also safe if kept in appropriate sealed containers.

Gamma rays: These are high-energy beams much the same as X-rays. They are emitted in many radioactive decays and are very penetrating, thus requiring substantial shielding. Gamma rays are the main hazard to people dealing with sealed radioactive materials used, for example, in industrial gauges and radiotherapy machines. Radiation dose badges are worn by workers in exposed situations to detect them and hence monitor exposure.

Source: http://www.alamogordonews.com/alamogordo-breaking_news/ci_23666252/military-investigating-possible-radiation-hazard-at-fort-bliss?source=rss_viewed

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