Deseret News
Wednesday, April 13, 1994

UTAHNS IN THE THICK OF DANGER ON SECRET COLD WAR BATTLEFIELD
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By Lee Davidson, Washington Bureau Chief

As if Utahns didn't already have enough proof, they were shown again this week that they unwittingly lived in one of the Cold War's major battlefields.

This time, documents obtained here by the Deseret News show the Army spread radioactive pellets from high-altitude aircraft over Utah, tested dust generators that spewed radioactive specks and exploded varying shapes of radioactive metal to see which would best spread contamination.

The smallest of such tests released 6.7 times as much radiation as the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident. The largest released 2,000 times more.

The tests - possibly 600 of them - were part of an until-now secret, full-scale program at Dugway Proving Ground in the 1950s to develop weapons that could spread radioactive materials. The only ``enemy'' they likely affected were unknowing Utahns.

The Cold War is over, and hopefully so are such experiments. But Utahns still face another battle if they ever want to really know what dangers they faced from secret tests in the desert.

Consider the many different types of tests there, which have been revealed slowly through investigative reports over the years:
 

- More than 12,000 field tests of chemical arms were conducted in Utah from the 1950s to the 1980s, according to an Army document released last year. That averages about 10 per week.

- About 2,500 field trials of germ weapons occurred in Utah during same era, according to documents and estimates by the Deseret News through the years. Many occurred on or over public lands. Many were conducted when winds were blowing toward populated areas.

- When the wind was blowing toward Utah, the government exploded 925 atomic and nuclear bombs at the Nevada Test Site. One hundred of those were open-air tests. Others were underground - but many still released radiation to the atmosphere.

- The government allowed many Utahns to work in unventilated uranium mines without warning they would likely die from it. It needed the uranium for nuclear bombs.

Besides such intentional actions, many accidents also occurred, including:

A 1968 accident at Dugway Proving Ground released nerve agent VX that killed 6,000 sheep in Skull Valley. A Deseret News probe last year showed some Skull Valley residents likely suffered illnesses of the nervous system ever since, even though the Army has always maintained the accident hurt no humans.

- At least eight accidents occurred at a pilot plant at Tooele Army Depot, which was testing methods to destroy chemical arms. Releases were up to 73 times the legal hourly limit, and local agencies said they were not notified.

- Toxic wastes have been found wandering off major bases. For example, an area of public land in the western desert the size of Washington is considered contaminated with chemical, germ and conventional weapons used by Dugway. Groundwater in Tooele County is contaminated with nitrates from explosives at Tooele Army Depot.

Many more examples could be listed. It all suggests that during the Cold War, Utahns faced simultaneous risk from nuclear bomb fallout, radiological weapons, germ weapons, chemical weapons or less exotic accidents.

The extent of most of those risks have never been fully revealed or studied. Most - like the latest disclosures - come from brief mentions in documents wrested from secrecy through the Freedom of Information Act. They usually do not have sufficient detail to fully evaluate dangers.

Compensation and a congressional apology has come only for some Utahns in some counties who lived there when nuclear bomb fallout hit, plus some other uranium miners.

Some hope exists for others. President Clinton has said he favors compensation for victims of recently disclosed radiation tests at hospitals and schools and has created a commission to study them. He also asked it to look at Dugway radiation tests.

Amid that atmosphere, now may be the time for Utah leaders to demand full disclosure and evaluation of all the dangers their residents faced. It's time to declare an end to the war on Utah.