The Air Force states that nuclear missile capsules are safe. However, documents show the presence of toxins, according to records obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. These toxins are documented in hundreds of pages of records dating back to the 1980s. They tell a very different story from what Air Force leaders told the nuclear missile community decades ago when the first reports of cancer among service members began to emerge.
Toxins in Nuclear Capsules
Toxins are documented in hundreds of pages of records from the 1980s obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests. These documents tell a very different story from what Air Force leaders told the nuclear missile community decades ago when the first reports of cancer among service members began to emerge.
Investigation into Capsules
In January, the Associated Press reported that nine current or former nuclear missile officers had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. More people then came forward with cancer diagnoses. In response, the Air Force conducted a comprehensive review and tested thousands of samples of air, water, soil, and surfaces at all facilities where service members operate. Four recent samples returned unsafe levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, a known carcinogen used in electrical wiring.
Concern Over Neglect
When the results of the recent tests were announced, the Air Force initially did not disclose that the contaminated samples had levels significantly higher than Environmental Protection Agency standards. Stephen Main, a former supervisor of the nuclear missile facility at the Air Force base in North Dakota, stated that the EPA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and senators from North Dakota and Montana need to look into this issue.
Past Exposure
There are currently three nuclear missile bases in the United States: Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Minot Air Force Base, and Malmstrom Air Force Base. Each base contains 15 underground capsules that serve as centers for fields containing 10 Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles. Service members work in these capsules around the clock, every day of the year. Service members spend 24 hours or more in each shift underground in those capsules monitoring the intercontinental ballistic missiles and preparing to launch them if directed by the president.
Current Investigation
The Air Force acknowledges that the current review cannot provide complete answers about what service members were exposed to in the past, but the data will help them create a health record to assist in applying for veterans’ benefits. However, there are many questions about past toxic risks in the documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.
Sierras Capsule
Environmental reports from Malmstrom when Jason was stationed there indicate that the Sierras capsule contained a long list of hazards. In 1996, a medical team reported that there were over 25 gallons of fluid with biological growth spreading across the floor of the Sierras capsule. There was an intake drawing outside air for Sierras located next to the parking lot, and the team observed a vehicle idling nearby for 20 minutes. The team documented that there should have been a fan drawing fresh air into Sierras, but it had been broken for at least six months, meaning the only way for the crew to get fresh air was to leave the steel capsule door open.
Leak
Computers
In the mid-1990s, there was a need for a new missile targeting system, and each capsule began refurbishment to install a wall-sized computer known as REACT, which stands for Rapid Execution and Combat Targeting System. The new system would allow the United States to reprogram and retarget its nuclear missiles more quickly in the event of war. The old computer was dismantled and REACT was built inside each of the 15 capsules at Malmstrom.
Upcoming Changes
All the capsules will be shut down within a few years when a new ICBM, the Sentinel, is launched. As part of the upgrade, the old capsules will be demolished and a new modern underground control center will be built on top of the old capsules. Air Force teams working on the new designs are aware of cancer reports and are applying modern environmental health standards in the new centers – requirements that did not exist when Minuteman capsules were first built, according to Major General John Newberry, the commander of the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center.
Conclusion
The old capsules will remain in use until then, making it even more important for the Air Force to be completely open with service members now, according to Doreen Genis, whose husband Jason Genis died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2001 at the age of 31. “It makes me frustrated and angry that they can keep telling these young men and women that they don’t find anything – even though they knew in 2001 and 2003 and the early 2000s that something was going on there.”
Source: https://www.aol.com/air-force-said-nuclear-missile-054355225.html
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