TP4 Metals in the Environment: Regulatory and Risk Concerns
Room 16A/B, Level 4
2:10 PM - 5:30 PM, Tuesday, 11 November 2003
Chair: McGeer, Jim ,
Co-chair: Dwyer, Bob ,
(278) Depleted Uranium: A Heavy Metal Environmental Contaminant That Has Fallen Through the Regulatory Cracks.
Henshel, D.1, 1 Indiana University, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Bloomington, IN, USA
ABSTRACT- Depleted Uranium (DU) is a radioactive heavy metal. It consists of the residual isotopes of uranium that remains after the more radiologically active 235U has been removed for use in the nuclear industry. As such, it is still a heavy metal, and it is still radioactive, albeit not as radioactive as weapons grade uranium. DU is very dense, and thus has been tested and used in both weapons (in warheads) and in armor (such as tanks) for the past two decades. As a result of the military DU testing and use program, active and BRAC'd military bases in this country have areas that are known to be contaminated with DU. Abroad, DU was used in both Kosovo and Desert Storm. Historically, and probably due to the presumption that the most serious health risks from U are due to its radioactive properties, all U and DU regulatory oversight falls first under the auspices of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). However, the NRC does not have the expertise nor the regulations set up to address the non-radiological toxicological properties of the heavy metal radionuclides such as DU. At this time, the only toxicological guidance for addressing DU as an environmental contaminant with heavy metal properties is the relatively new EPA guidance on DU in drinking water. Yet the potential for exposure to DU both in this country and abroad (e.g. Kosovo and Kuwait) includes air and food chain exposure as well, and the DU starts as a soil contaminant. Using the Depleted Uranium Area at Jefferson Proving Ground, IN, as a case study, I will discuss the regulatory issues surrounding oversight of DU as a heavy metal at a contaminated site.
Key words: DU, radionuclide, heavy metal, BRAC