Florida
airport evacuated after depleted uranium discovered
Portions
of an airport in Miami, Florida were evacuated after depleted uranium
was discovered early Thursday.
RT,
25
July, 2013
Firefighters
cleared a 150-foot area of the Opa-locka Executive Airport in south
Florida after a 55 gallon drum located either on or near part of a
dismantled aircraft was discovered to be containing exposed, depleted
uranium, NBC 6 South Florida reported.
Miami-Dade
Fire Rescue Public Information Officer Arnold Piedrahita Jr tweeted
that a haz-mat scene was dispatched to the scene to assess the
severity of the situation and monitor the levels of radiation.
The
rescue team later reduced the size of the impacted "hotzone"
to just a five-foot perimiter and declared that the depleted uranium
posed minimal to no hazard.
As
the investigation entered into the afternoon, the Department of
Environmental Protection said someone had dismantled an old airplane,
then placed some of the parts within the drum later determined to
contain Uranium 238.
According
to a local NBC affiliate, a spokesperson for the DEP identified the
depleted uranium as from aluminum parts that had been removed from
the aircraft.
Opa-locka
is a reliever airport which serves as a secondary landing field for
aircraft normally going in and out of the larger Miami International
Airport. It also is a hub used by the United States Coast Guard for
air and sea rescue stations.
Depleted
uranium is a radioactive product used in military munitions and
fission bombs, and is regulated by the United States Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. Earlier this week, RT reported that the US
military’s use of depleted uranium during the war in Iraq has led
to a sharp increase in cases of Leukemia and birth defects, according
to some local doctors.
“After
the start of the Iraq war, rates of cancer, leukemia and birth
defects rose dramatically in Najaf. The areas affected by American
attacks saw the biggest increases. We believe it’s because of the'
illegal' weapons like depleted uranium that were used by the
Americans. When you visit the hospital here you see that cancer is
more common than the flu," Dr. Sundus Nsaif told RT.
According
to a local NBC affiliate, officials at Opa-locka say there are no
reported injuries.
The
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department has asked the US Environmental
Protection Agency for assistance.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.