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Tooele • The U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground plans to release radioactive gas and chlorine next year in separate tests.
The radioactive-gas releases are supposed to roughly equal the exposure a person would receive from some X-rays or body scans, according to a presentation given here Thursday. The radiation then is expected to dissipate below naturally occurring levels within 3 miles.
As part of the chlorine tests, the Utah Division of Air Quality (DAQ) is requiring Dugway to install monitors ensuring that any chlorine that escapes the proving ground is two magnitudes lower than would be dangerous to humans.
Dugway is accepting public comment regarding the radiological test while DAQ is taking comment on the chlorine test.
No groups have announced opposition to either test. However, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment are studying the radiation proposal and forming an opinion, said Brian Moench, the group's president.
"If this proposal involves exposing Utah residents to radiation, even in very small amounts, UPHE would not only be opposed to it, we would work to stop it," Moench said in an email to The Tribune.
If approval is granted from the necessary military and civilian agencies, both tests would occur sometime in late summer or early fall 2015 when wind and weather at Dugway are most predictable.
At a public hearing on the radiation tests Thursday in Tooele, officials from Dugway emphasized the low level of radiation planned for release and the safety protocols, but they also acknowledged concerns Utahns have when they hear of planned radiation and chemical releases.
In mid-March 1968, as Dugway was in the midst of open-air testing of the nerve gas VX, thousands of Utah sheep in Tooele County's Skull Valley began dying. A 1970 report by researchers at the Army's Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland said there was "incontrovertible" evidence that a nerve gas killed the sheep, but the Army never has acknowledged that it or the Dugway testing was responsible.
Thousands of Utahns also believe they or their loved ones contracted cancer or other maladies as a result of nuclear bomb detonations in Nevada.
As is typical in military operations, the two experiments planned for 2015 have received monikers. The radiation tests are being called London Fog. The chlorine testing is titled the Jack Rabbit Research and Development Program.
In London Fog, Dugway is helping the U.S. Navy test a new sensor designed to detect "ultra-low levels" of radiation, according to the presentation given Thursday in Tooele by David Blanchard, program manager for London Fog.
The proving ground intends to release gas containing Carbon-14, a naturally occurring radioactive isotope that can be measured as a means for dating archaeological and biological remains.
Blanchard said each test will release radiation between 10 millicurie (mci) — about that of a full dental X-ray — and 90 mci — what one might receive from a full body scan.
The gas will be deployed remotely, he explained, while personnel remain outside a 5-kilometer safety zone.
As another precaution, the gas will be deployed in a southeastern zone of Dugway at a time when winds are expected to blow toward the northwest. So if any radiation were to escape the safety zone, it still would have to travel diagonally across Dugway's 800,000 acres — and then across much of Utah's west desert — before reaching any populated areas.
Blanchard expects the radiation to quickly dissipate, but said the sensors, if they work properly, will be stationed to detect the low levels. The sensors, he said, are supposed to be more sensitive than any existing radiation sensors.
"We're hoping that by increasing the sensitivity, we can increase the warning for our soldiers," said Blanchard, adding that he does not know how the Navy intends to use the sensors.
Another public hearing on London Fog is scheduled for Nov. 6 in Wendover. Comment will be used to draft an environmental assessment, which will be made public before final approval is given to London Fog.
In Jack Rabbit, scientists are seeking to determine what would happen if a rail car or other large receptacle were to emit pressurized, poisonous gas in an urban setting.
The tests are in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and planning documents suggest it and the Army intend to place cars and structures in the test zone to see whether the chlorine penetrates them.
Dugway personnel were not available for questions Thursday or Friday.
According to DAQ, the current proposal calls for Dugway to release up to 10 tons of chlorine per test in 2015. The amount could increase to 90 tons of chlorine per test in 2016 if Dugway can demonstrate that only minimal amounts of chlorine escaped its boundaries in previous tests.
The amount of chlorine allowed to escape Dugway boundaries must be two magnitudes less than what is typically harmful to humans. Any DAQ permit would specify the weather conditions under which the chlorine could be deployed, including wind speeds between 2 and 6 meters per second.
"We've got a lot of conservatism built in to make sure this is safe," said Marty Gray, permit manager at DAQ.
An earlier version of Jack Rabbit was conducted at Dugway in April and May 2010. In those tests, scientists wanted to learn how clouds of chlorine and anhydrous ammonia move.
Dugway dug a hole 2.2 meters deep and 27 yards in radius, moved personnel back at least 1.5 miles and remotely deployed the gases in the hole.
The proving ground conducted five such tests with chlorine and five with anhydrous ammonia. The experiments released a total of 9 tons of chlorine and 9 tons of anhydrous ammonia.
Dugway submitted its application for the new Jack Rabbit tests a year ago. Gray said DAQ reviewed the application and requested data showing the testing plan was feasible.
"We had a lot of debate," Gray said of the division's interaction with Dugway. He declined to elaborate.
No public hearings are scheduled for Jack Rabbit, but the division will schedule one if requested.
Both London Fog and Jack Rabbit are to be conducted in locations on Dugway with little vegetation or trees that would attract birds. Dugway plans to use noisemakers and other methods to remove any animals from the area before conducting the tests.
Twitter: @natecarlisle —
How to comment
London Fog
• Another public hearing will be held at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 6 at the Wendover City Offices, 920 E. Wendover Blvd.
• Public comment also can be emailed to Bonnie Robinson at bonnie.a.robinson@mail.mil.
Jack Rabbit Research and Development Program
• Comment can be mailed to Utah Division of Air Quality, P.O. Box 144820, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-4820
• Comment can be emailed to Marty Gray at martygray@utah.gov or Nando Meli Jr. at nmeli@utah.gov.
• The comment period ends Nov. 14.