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origin of DU at TCAAP
[http://web.ead.anl.gov/uranium/uses/index.cfm Depleted Uranium Uses Research and Development Program] has been initiated. This program will explore the risks and benefits of several depleted uranium uses, including uses as a radiation shielding material, a catalyst, and a semi-conductor material in electronic devices."
"[[Alliant Techsystems]] or ATK is the largest supplier of all munitions to the U.S. Department of Defense, and works on many DoD contracts, including large and small caliber munitions employing depleted uranium penetrators" --[http://www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/smallarms.htm ARMS TRADE RESOURCE CENTER, November 2000]
At teh Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant (TCAAP ) ATK said it used DU provided by the government to melt and cast DU for its penetrators ( Jim Persoon, NRC meeting 3/31/2004 Arden Hills, MN). The information on Alliantactions website about the origin of DU cannot be verified[http://www.circlevision.org/alliantaction/atk/scoop/scoopindex.html].
And while clean up and decomissioning of ATK's license at TCAAP is still going onnow,Apil 2004, pollution elsewheer elsewhere continues: Alliant Techsystems recently won new ammunition contracts worth $38 million, as published in the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE April 7, 2004 p. D2:
Alliant Techsystems Inc., Edina, said it received new contracts in excess of $38 million from the U.S. Army's Armament Research Development and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. Under the contracts, Alliant will provide 120 millimeter tactical ammunition for the Army's M1A1 main battle tanks. Deliveries will be completed by November 2005. The project manager of Maneuver Ammunition Systems manages the contract for the Army and Marine Corps.
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DU was made into metal by Nuclear Metals in Concord Massachusetts. Nuclear Metals is now the [[Starmet Corporation]].
"But while defense contractors profit handsomely, their neighbors are exposed to radioactive waste. Starmet Corp. -- among the Army's largest supplier's of DU weapons -- dumped 400,000 pounds of uranium and heavy metals into an unlined holding pond in Concord, Massachusetts, polluting soil and groundwater. Faced with a massive cleanup, Starmet filed for bankruptcy last year -- leaving taxpayers with cleanup costs estimated at $50 million. Cleanup at the Twin Cities Army Ammunitions Plant in suburban Minneapolis, littered with DU shells manufactured by Alliant, is expected to cost $235 million." [http://feedthefish.org/blog/materials/johnson.html Hillary Johnson, Rolling Stone, October 2, 2003 ]
The juxtaposition of "clean"up costs at Starmet (only DU ) and TCAAP ( many other contaminants) is misleading. Most of the cost of the" clean"- up at TCAAP isn't because of DU- it would be hard to get the Army to committ to a $ number for just the DU "clean" up.
In case you wonder why DU never turns up in regulatory websites about TCAAP, such as EPA [http://www.epa.gov/region5superfund/npl/minnesota/MN7213820908.htm]- Minnesota Pollutin Control Agency MPCA doesnt even have a website on Minnesota's largest superfund site-: EPA contends to this day that DU did not get released into the environment, despite clear evidence to the contrary ( soil, air). Hence in EPA logic DU "clean" up is not part of the Superfund program at TCAAP.
