helicopter crashes in Hawaii , kills 1 marine and released radioactive material

[ensho]

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php


Environmental activist Carroll Cox says a helicopter that crashed onto the Kaneohe Sandbar on the evening of March 29, killing one marine and injuring three others, released radioactive material into the surrounding area. Cox says he was informed a week-and-a-half ago by military sources that the CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter contained a device known as an In-flight Blade Inspection System, or IBIS. Within the device are six half inch pellets that contain the radioactive isotope strontium-90, a known carcinogen with a half life of 29 years that's easily absorbed by human bones. “I'm told by sources that some did contaminate, that meant that these capsules were breeched," Cox said in an interview with Khon2. “I would like to see is an independent entity sample that area." Cox believes the popular three acre sandbar should be off-limits ahead of the Labor Day weekend until the state Health Department and the Department of Land and Natural
Resources can guarantee there is no risk to the public. “Sacrifice one holiday rather than sacrificing the untold numbers out there that may become exposed," he said. DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said testing of the sandbar where the helicopter went down would proceed Friday morning in an effort to reassure the public that all is safe. "We'll go out and do an assessment and make a determination later that day," said Ward.

Late Thursday, Marine Corps Base Hawaii spokesman Maj. Alan Crouch said testing of the sandbar had already been performed and no radiological contamination was found at the crash site. Crouch confirmed low levels of radiation were found during the nine days that crews worked to remove wreckage of the helicopter off the sandbar. “During the recovery efforts, some aircraft components were found to have a low level of contamination," Crouch said in a written statement. “All materials found to be contaminated were decontaminated or appropriately contained here on base. All personnel involved in the handling of any contaminated material were screened to verify they were not contaminated."

In a post accident report obtained by Cox and dated August 31, the Marine Corps notes the release of jet fuel, oil and hydraulic fluid from the downed helicopter, but there's no mention of strontium-90. David Henkin, chairman of the Kahaluu Neighborhood Board, said it's disappointing the military chose to keep the release of radioactive material a secret, even if it posed no risk to the public. “It's disappointing that the marines didn't report that to the community," said Henkin, a Honolulu attorney. “We're about to go into the Labor Day weekend and there's going to be a lot of families out there; we want to make sure that they're safe." Cox said the first thing that came to mind after learning about the presence of strontium-90 at the crash site was the welfare of those who rushed to the scene, which included personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Marine Corps and the Honolulu Fire Department. “The
biggest concern I had was for the first responders, the City and County of Honolulu fire fighters," said Cox. “I'm informed that they were not told."

HFD spokesman Capt. Terry Seelig said he could not confirm whether fire fighters knew about the possible presence of a radiological substance while headed to the crash site. He said that information would be available Friday at the earliest. Khon2 and other media have been invited to Friday's inspection of the sandbar by DLNR and state Health Department staff. Look for that report Friday evening.
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[Harmony Blue]

DP.

[Harmony Blue]

1. Strontium 90?

Oh no..:scared:

[Renew Deal]

2. What are the marines doing with strontium-90?

:shrug:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. It is used in IBIS

[ensho]

6. what's IBIS?

nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. In-flight Blade Inspection System (it is in the first paragraph of the article)

Both military and high end commercial aircraft have continuous monitoring for maintenance purposes. This provides the actual wear and tear on components and provides better maintenance and lower cost. It is fairly sophisticated approach but works out well.

The real question is for an aircraft destined to be shot at why was such a material used.

[MilesColtrane]

7. It's a system to detect cracks in the rotor blades.

The blades are hollow and their interiors are pressurized.

The radioactive sources are half inch pellets of Strontium-90.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. How much radiation are military personnel exposed to, over time, I wonder?

[ensho]

4. LOTs!

military bases are toxic dumps

[sce56]

9. The US DOE found a place to get rid of Depleted Uranium a long time ago! DOD is the recycler!

Depleted Uranium Dust - Public Health Disaster For The People Of Iraq and Afghanistan




DU Rounds


Loading depleted uranium shells onto an A-10 "Warthog"
http://www.notinkansas.us/du_2.html



The M1 Abrams The US Main battle tank is made with DU Armour

Our tankers sit inside a tank made with DU!
DU is one of the most dense materials on earth makes a great shield to deflect all munitions except one DU Rounds can penetrate DU Armour. Our Tanks can defeat the best on the field of battle using DU both in defense and offense. Consequently we are contaminating the world wherever we fight wars.
Iraq Yugoslavia Afghanistan Somalia etc etc.


Cover-up

By Michelle Mairesse

The Rand Corporation report was based on data from uranium mining. Uranium miners were exposed to a soluble form of uranium, which the body eliminates during approximately twelve hours to twelve days. The depleted uranium deployed in the Gulf War burns at a high temperature, producing a ceramic aerosol of inhalable particles that can lodge in the body from five to ten years before being excreted. Because DU radiates alpha particles, the largest and heaviest of the three kinds of radiation, DU is easier to shield against than alpha or gamma rays. However, when released internally, alpha radiation lodged next to living tissue can damage the DNA nucleus of the cell and provoke mutations and cancers.

The plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, as a by-product of its uranium enrichment program, funneled much of its depleted uranium into Gulf War weaponry. Disease and mortality studies from Oak Ridge tend to nullify both the defense establishment's and Rand Corporation's bill of clean health for DU. Forty years after the wives of some Oak Ridge workers complained of their husbands' burning semen, the wives of Gulf War veterans made the same complaint. In the Oak Ridge neighborhood, there is a high rate of chronic fatigue syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and immune dysfunction, the most frequently reported symptoms of Gulf War veterans

As for the defense establishment's assertion that chemical exposure to DU was insignificant, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, who in 1991 was chief of the Nuclear Medicine Clinic at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Wilmington Delaware, discovered significant evidence of uranium exposure in his patients, severe pathology of the renal and geneto-urinary systems. After two of the Gulf War patients died, Dr. Durakovic insisted on expanding the tests. He wanted samples of the patients' skeletal systems. The tests were not performed, medical charts disappeared, the uranium Registry Office was dismantled, and Dr. Durakovic was laid off in 1997. (Dr. Durakovic is presently professor of radiology and nuclear medicine and radiology at Georgetown University.)
For six years, the official line was that Gulf War veterans reporting a variety of symptoms (brought together under the NEWet term "Gulf War Syndrome") were all suffering from wartime stress. In October 1997, a House panel disputed the conclusions of the president's Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, finding "no credible evidence" that wartime stress contributed to the Gulf War Syndrome. The House panel pinpointed toxic agents, including nerve gases, vaccines, pesticides, smoke from oil well fires, and depleted uranium from spent U. S. anti-tank shells. (About 320 tons of depleted uranium were fired by tanks or aircraft in the Gulf War.)

The defense establishment maintained that the Iraqis might be responsible for the toxic agents, but the Army Surgeon General's office immediately declared that only 35 veterans had been internally exposed to depleted uranium and that further testing was unnecessary. By January 1998, the Pentagon's Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses revised the number of exposures in announcing that troops unaware that depleted uranium contaminated equipment (such as enemy vehicles disabled by DU rounds) required special handling. "The failure to properly disseminate such information to troops at all levels may have resulted in thousands of unnecessary exposures."

Yet in April 1999, Harold Heilsnis, Director of Public Communications for the Pentagon, told the Sierra Club of Canada, "To the best of my knowledge, we are not using these rounds (DU) in the Balkans. We would not hesitate to use these rounds however, as we are confident they pose no risk to human safety or the environment."

In December 2000, NATO officials said that U.S. aircraft fired more than 10,000 depleted uranium projectiles in Bosnia and Kosovo. The governments of Italy, Belgium, Holland, Spain, and Finland, and Turkey expressed alarm over illnesses developing in returning troops, but the UK Ministry of Defense blandly responded that there is no scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to the deaths of alliance soldiers.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. There are people here who stoutly deny the presence of any DU in Afghanistan.

Bookmarking this for future need.