Wildlife where US Once Made Nuclear, Chemical Weapons

 

A few places where the United States manufactured and tested some of the most deadly weapons ever made are now safe for wild animals.

One such place is a forest in the state of Indiana. Another can be found on a small island in the Pacific Ocean.

The Associated Press reports that a surprising mix of animals and natural habitats are in good health on six former weapons test areas. The U.S. government mainly tested nuclear or chemical weapons on those sites. The government barred people from making visits after the testing ended.

Now, these areas belong to wild animals. The government set up wildlife refuges, or shelters, for them under the Fish and Wildlife Service, a federal agency. Today these areas are home to black bears and black-footed ferrets, coral reefs, rare birds and even endangered fish.

But the cost of setting up the wildlife refuges is huge. And critics say the areas are still not clean or safe enough for human beings.

The U.S. military, the Department of Energy and private companies have spent more than $57 billion to clean up the six heavily polluted sites. That amount is based on information gathered by The Associated Press (AP) from military and civil agencies.

And the biggest costs have yet to be paid. The Energy Department estimates it will cost between $323 billion and $677 billion more to finish the costliest¹ cleanup. That would be at the Hanford Site in Washington State, where the government produced plutonium for bombs and missiles.

Pollution left behind

Even after the cleanups, there is still a lot of contamination at these sites, some experts say. They say this contamination requires restrictions² on where visitors can go. They also say the government should watch the areas very closely – possibly for hundreds of years.

“They would be worse if they were surrounded by a fence and left off-limits,” said David Havlick. He is a professor at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He studies efforts to clean up former military sites for wildlife. “It would be better if they were cleaned up more,” Havlick added.

Researchers have yet to examine the health risks to wildlife at the cleaned-up refuges as much as they have studied the risks to humans. However, very few problems have been reported.

At least 30 of the more than 560 refuges under the control of the wildlife service have some history with the military or weapons, the AP found. Most were not used for making nuclear or chemical weapons.

Many of the conversions⁴ came after the first and second world wars, simply to create more park areas, said Mark Madison, who works as an historian for the Fish and Wildlife Service.

But when U.S. relations with the Soviet⁵ Union improved in the 1980s, other military lands became refuges. Some were among the most dangerously polluted areas in the country.

Reborn as a beautiful field

Critics agree that the refuges are valuable, but warn that the natural beauty might hide serious environmental damage.

The military closed the sites to keep people safe from the dangerous work that went on there, not to save the environment, noted⁶ Havlick of the University of Colorado.

Changing a heavily polluted weapons center into a wildlife refuge costs less than making it safe for homes, schools and businesses, notes Adam Rome. He teaches environmental history at the State University of New York at Buffalo⁷.

Critics say Rocky Mountain Arsenal⁸ in Colorado shows the problems with a cleanup good enough for animals, but not humans. The arsenal is about 16 kilometers from the center of Denver, Colorado’s capital. The area was once an environmental disaster where chemical weapons and pesticide⁹ products were made. Thousands of ducks died after swimming in water there in the 1950s.

The government spent $2.1 billion to clean the area and renamed it Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. It is 61 square kilometers of beautiful fields where visitors can walk or drive a car. But people are still banned from areas where the Army left contaminated dirt. It is illegal to eat fish or any animal from the refuge. Water treatment centers remove contaminants from groundwater to keep them out of people’s drinking water.

The most worrisome

Hanford in Washington may be the most problematic refuge of all. The government has already spent $48 billion and many more billions are needed.

The cost to clean up the contaminated waste is rising quickly. Department of Energy investigators¹⁰ say the project has been mismanaged.

Also, Washington state officials are worried that the Trump¹¹ administration wants to reclassify wastewater at Hanford from high-level radioactive to low-level. The proposed changes would weaken the rules for the cleanup and cut costs. Energy Department officials say there are no plans to change the classification. But state officials say they want long-term and legally effective guarantees.

Madison, the Fish and Wildlife Service historian, believes that if agency officials thought the areas were unsafe for the public, they would not work there.

“They’re there all the time,” Madison said. “They’re not going to want to be in a place with chemical pollution or radiation problems.”

I’m Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

habitat - n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows

contamination - n. to make (something) dangerous, dirty, or impure¹² by adding something harmful or undesirable¹³ to it

conversion³ - n. the act or process of changing from one form, state, etc., to another

pesticide - n. a chemical that is used to kill animals or insects that damage plants or crops

mismanage - v. to manage something badly

reclassify - v. to reorganize something

1 costliest   

adj.昂贵的( costly的最高级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• At 81 billion dollars, Katrina is the costliest natural disaster in American history. “卡特里娜”飓风造成了近810亿美圆的损失，是美国历史上最严重的自然灾难之一。 来自互联网
• Senator John Kerry has proposed a tax on the costliest health plans sold by insurance companies. 参议员约翰？克里(JohnKerry)已经提议对保险公司销售的高价值的保险计划征税。 来自互联网

2 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

3 conversion   

n.转化，转换，转变

参考例句：

• He underwent quite a conversion.他彻底变了。
• Waste conversion is a part of the production process.废物处理是生产过程的一个组成部分。

4 conversions   

变换( conversion的名词复数 )； （宗教、信仰等）彻底改变； （尤指为居住而）改建的房屋； 橄榄球（触地得分后再把球射中球门的）附加得分

参考例句：

• He kicked a penalty goal and two conversions, ie in Rugby football. 他一次罚球得分，两次触地后射门得分（在橄榄球赛中）。
• Few of the intermediates or enzymes involved in these conversions have been isolated from higher plants. 在这些转变中包含的少数中间产物或酶已经从高等植物中分离出来。

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

8 arsenal   

n.兵工厂，军械库

参考例句：

• Even the workers at the arsenal have got a secret organization.兵工厂工人暗中也有组织。
• We must be the great arsenal of democracy.我们必须成为民主的大军火库。

9 pesticide   

n.杀虫剂，农药

参考例句：

• The pesticide was spread over the vegetable plot.菜田里撒上了农药。
• This pesticide is diluted with water and applied directly to the fields.这种杀虫剂用水稀释后直接施用在田里。

10 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

12 impure   

adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的

参考例句：

• The air of a big city is often impure.大城市的空气往往是污浊的。
• Impure drinking water is a cause of disease.不洁的饮用水是引发疾病的一个原因。

13 undesirable   

adj.不受欢迎的，不良的，不合意的，讨厌的；n.不受欢迎的人，不良分子

参考例句：

• They are the undesirable elements among the employees.他们是雇员中的不良分子。
• Certain chemicals can induce undesirable changes in the nervous system.有些化学物质能在神经系统中引起不良变化。