Deseret News
Wednesday, June 1, 1994

LEAVITT REQUESTS A FULL DISCLOSURE

Word of radiological tests raises fears in state hit hard by bombs in Nevada.
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By Brent Israelsen, Staff Writer

A Deseret News report in April about radiological testing in the airspace over Dugway Proving Grounds has prompted Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt to ask President Clinton for a full disclosure.

Though Dugway is well-known for its chemical and biological programs, the radiological testing at the facility during the early part of the Cold War was news to Utahns.

"It is disturbing to now discover that radiological testing . . . was not publicly disclosed," Leavitt writes. "With Utah's experience dealing with the open-air tests at the Nevada Test Site, this revelation at Dugway again engenders distrust of the federal government for its failure to protect the citizens of the state."

Leavitt asked Clinton to ensure the following information is released:

- A list of the radionuclides used in the tests.

- A description of areas where testing occurred.

- A list of sites that were contaminated.

- A description of the potential for exposure to Dugway workers and the environment.

"It is imperative that this information be provided in a timelymanner to ensure the citizens of Utah that the Army is acting in a responsible manner to resolve this issue," Leavitt says in the letter.

Bill Sinclair, director of the state Division of Radiation Control, said his office will review all information the government releases about the testing.

Of particular interest to the division will be the list of radioactive materials used in the tests.

"All indications are they used short-lived radionuclides, like tantalum, which have long since decayed away," Sinclair said. "But if we find out they used a longer-lived radionuclide, such as Cobalt 60, it could make a lot of difference in our level of concern."

In April, the Deseret News reported that there is evidence that the Army conducted more than 600 radiological-warfare tests over Dugway from 1949 to 1952 - possibly beyond.

The information, obtained by Deseret News Washington correspondent Lee Davidson through the Freedom of Information Act, became available three months after investigators for Congress' General Accounting Office first revealed six other radiation weapons tests at Dugway Proving Ground that dropped cluster bombs to scatter radioactive material.

Clinton subsequently createda commission to study the ethics of radiation experiments and review those six GAO-revealed tests, which appear to have been just the tip of the iceberg in Utah.

Leavitt now wants Clinton's commission to look at all of the radiation tests in Utah.

The testing was part of a program in which the Army studied the feasibility of contaminating battlefields and enemy cities with radiation.

For years, the Army denied that such a program existed.