Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) – radioactive material (RAM)

Fourteen of the forty Air Force bases that were closed and transferred or are in the process of being transferred to the public are potentially contaminated with highly classified 91 (b) radioactive material (RAM), and seven are in CA.

Forty-six Air Force bases reported having radioactive disposal sites and nine of these Air Force bases were former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) sites. “Burial of Radioactive Waste in the USAF” *

In the 2003 report “Buried Radioactive Weapons Maintenance Waste” the Air Force acknowledged that it routinely withheld information and records about 91 (b) radioactive material (RAM) from Federal, State and Local regulators, contractors, and the public.

1. Carswell AFB, TX
2. Castle AFB, CA
3. Eaker/Blytheville AFB, AR
4. England AFB, LA
5. George AFB, CA
6. Griffiss AFB, NY
7. Hamilton AFB/Hamilton Army, CA
8. KI Sawyer AFB, MI
9. Loring AFB, ME
10. March AFB, CA
11. Mather AFB, CA
12. McClellan AFB, CA
13. Norton AFB, CA
14. Pease AFB, NH
15. Wurtsmith AFB, MI

Air Force Base	BRAC 1	Superfund 2	91b RAM	SAC 3	FIS 4	HOT Wash 5 6	Reactor	Radioactive Waste 7	AEC site 7
Air Force Research Laboratory, AZ	2005
Bergstrom AFB, TX	1993							Y
Brooks AFB, TX	2011
Buckley Annex, CO	1994
Carswell AFB, TX	1995		Y	Y		Y 6		Y
Castle AFB, CA	1995	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y 6
Chanute AFB, IL	1993
Eaker/Blytheville AFB, AR	1992		Y	Y
England AFB, LA	1992		Y		Y			Y
Four Lakes Air ANGS, WA	2009
Galena AFB, AK	2005
General Mitchell ARS, WI	2008
Gentile AFB, OH	1997
George AFB, CA	1992	Y	Y		Y	Y 6		Y
Griffiss AFB, NY	1995	Y	Y		Y
Grissom AFB, IN	1994
Hamilton AFB/Hamilton Army, CA *	1998		Y		Y			Y
Homestead AFB	1994
Kelly AFB, TX	2001							Y
KI Sawyer AFB, MI	1995		Y		Y
Kulis ANGB, AK	2011
Loring AFB, ME	1994		Y		Y			Y	Y
Lowry AFB, CO	1994							Y
March AFB, CA	1996		Y	Y		Y 6
Mather AFB, CA	1993	Y	Y	Y
McClellan AFB, CA	2001	Y	Y			Y 6	Y
Myrtle Beach AFB, SC	1993
Newark AFB, OH	1996
Norton AFB,  CA	1994	Y	Y			Y 5 – 6
O’Hare AFB, IL	1999
Onizuka AFB, CA	2000
Ontario ANGB, CA	1997
Pease AFB, NH	1991	Y	Y	Y
Plattsburgh AFB, NY	1995	Y
Reese AFB, TX	1992
Richards-Gebaur AFB, MO	1994							Y
Rickenbacker AFB, OH	1994	Y
Roslyn AFB, NY	1995
Williams AFB, AZ	1993	Y						Y
Wurtsmith AFB, MI	1993	Proposed	Y	Y	Y

Source: AFCEC ¹, US EPA ², Wikipedia ³, Paper No 20 Nuclear Armament and Manned Interceptors ⁴, Radiological contamination in the United States ⁵, Technical Guidebook to Permitting, Investigations, and Remedial Actions on Air Force Section 91b Radiological Sites ⁶, Burial of Radioactive Waste in the USAF ⁷ – George AFB’s HOT wash rack is not listed in Senate hearing on “Radiological contamination in the United States” but can be found in the declassified report “History of the 479th Fighter-Bomber Wing, 1952 to 1953” on this page.

91(b) RAM: highly classified radioactive material (RAM) covered under Section 91(b) of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1954 associated with current nuclear weapons material, legacy nuclear weapons maintenance wastes, residuals from nuclear weapons accident/incidents, some residuals from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, and residuals from nuclear reactor operations.

Biggs Airfield/Fort Bliss, TX – In 1996, the Air Force transferred a contaminated WSA and radioactive waste burial site to the Army but did not warn them of potential radiation risk. The radioactive contamination at the site is from the maintenance of nuclear weapons from the 1950s and 1960s. The specific quantity of maintenance waste buried is not known due to incomplete records. According to the Air Force, it disposed of the radioactive waste in accordance with the Atomic Energy Commission and Air Force procedures at the time.

https://www.georgeafb.info/2013-07-xx-news-radioactive-waste-biggs-afb-tx/

RW017 was a radioactive burial site used exclusively by the Sandia National Labs personnel at the base, who conducted inspections and modified the weapons as necessary. Records from the AEC departure and interview subjects suggest that the AEC also exhumed this site and relocated the material to Pantex. However, no records exist that would verify this anecdotal evidence. Indeed, due to the discovery of weapons components at this site in 2004, the likelihood that the site was either partially exhumed or not all is high. The components found were reviewed by special weapons experts and were verified as the correct type for weapons of that era. Furthermore, former Sandian Harold Rarrick confirmed that those types of devices were disposed of in similar sites at other AEC weapons storage areas. The typical methodology for Sandia/AEC was to place radiological materials into cardboard boxes and bury the boxes at the site. Materials that may be present at this site include Polonium (not likely due to its 138-day half-life), Beryllium, Cesium, and Uranium [highly enriched uranium (HEU), depleted uranium (DU), natural Uranium (Unat)], and Trichloroethylene (TCE).

Characterization and Remediation of 91B Radioactive Waste Sites under Performance-Based Contracts at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas (PDF 1MB)

Air Force acknowledged that it routinely withheld information and records about radioactive waste from Federal, State and Local regulators, contractors, and the public.

2003-05-08 AF – Buried Radioactive Weapons Maintenance Waste

AFI40-201 13 APRIL 2007

91(a) Material—Radioactive material exempted from NRC licensing controls under Section 91(a) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, in the interest of national defense. These include materials associated with nuclear weapons.

91(b) Material—Radioactive material exempted from NRC licensing controls under Section 91(b) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, in the interest of national defense. These include materials in nuclear weapons

Radioactive Waste—Waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste can be generally classed in one of four categories:

• High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLRW)—HLRW is spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power plants and waste material from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.
• Transuranic Waste—Waste material that contains transuranic elements with half-lives greater than 20 years and concentrations greater than 100 nanoCuries per gram. A transuranic is an element with an atomic number greater than 92 (e.g. plutonium, americium, curium).
• Low-level Radioactive Waste (LLRW)—LLRW is any radioactive waste that is not HLRW, uranium tailings, or transuranic waste.
• Mixed Waste—Waste that contains hazardous waste and source, special nuclear, or byproduct material subject to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (i.e., material regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission).

https://fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/afi40-201.pdf