But workers at the Wasatch Integrated Waste Management District, which sometimes contracts with Hill to destroy classified military documents and equipment, spent eight months burning components that contained trace levels of depleted uranium before base technicians turned up evidence that the items were radioactive.
Hill declined today to identify what items were being destroyed, but the U.S. military has used depleted uranium in armor-piercing weapons, armor and as ballast for things like cruise missiles. The substance is 40 percent less radioactive than normal uranium, but still 40 times more radioactive than typical Class A waste, such as that typically disposed of at Utah's EnergySolutions operation in Tooele County, and can only be safely disposed of deep underground, according to the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
Linda Medler, commander of Hill's 75th Air Base Wing, said Hill technicians "were initially unaware that these parts contained very small amounts of depleted uranium."
She said that 40-year-old classified drawings and other information describing the components "were not readily accessible."
Base officials said new information came to light last month, causing them to be concerned that a small amount of uranium-tainted items - perhaps 5 pounds' worth - had been included in 9 tons of material that was taken to the burn plant.
District CEO Nathan Rich said base officials assured him that the materials were safe for destruction when they asked him to destroy the items last year.
"We talked at length about these particular units and it was one of those things where we asked, 'What's in it?' and they said, 'Well, it's top secret,' " Rich said. "But they were certain it was not going to be a problem."
Rich said two officers from Hill visited him this week to tell him that technicians at the base had finally reviewed the drawings and found that the items contained uranium.
Vanessa Pierce, executive director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said the military should have been more diligent. She called the situation "an outrageous mistake."
Utahns should be "absolutely assured that our health is being protected," and shouldn't have to worry about the military's next mistake, Pierce said.
Regardless of how little radioactivity may have been released in the burn, Pierce said, Utah's residents would be justified in their sensitivity to this issue.
"For too long, Utahns have acted as guinea pigs in a deranged experiment where private companies and government agencies have tried to see how much how much toxic can waste can be incinerated here, or how much nuclear waste can be dumped here," she said. "We deserve better."
Medler said she recognized "the sensitivity of this issue to many citizens in Utah" and said base officials were continuing "to validate our calculations with outside experts" so that Utahns could be assured there had been no harm from the mistaken burn.
