Report linking UA to nuclear weapons research raises new questions about UA map, other documents
by J.C. Huntington
Dateline: Phoenix Arizona, Wednesday, November 22, 2000
       A recently declassified document from the Department of Energy (DOE) links the UA to secret nuclear weapons research during the 40’s and 50’s.  

       The DOE report raises the question: where was the radioactive waste generated by nuclear research in the 40's and 50's disposed of?

       The UA acquired Page Ranch in 1941 and claims to have first begun dumping radioactive waste there in 1962. 

       While UA officials have consistently maintained there was no disposal of radioactive waste at Page Ranch prior to 1962, a 38-year-old map suggests dumping of radioactive waste occurred at an "Atomic Burial Site" before the current Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill existed. 

       The map shows a fenced-off  “Atomic Burial Site” approximately one-and-a-half miles from the current Page-Trowbridge landfill. 

       The UA initially withheld the map in response to a Public Records Request made by Web Parton.  

       Parton, an Oracle resident, researched the history of the Page-Trowbridge landfill at the request of the Oracle Town Hall.

Other documents withheld?

       Aubrey Godwin, director of the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency, indicated documents exist regarding the use of nuclear material by the UA when he told the Daily Wildcat, "records from the 40’s and 50’s are sparse.”

       When asked about Godwin's statement, Parton said, "what records? The university said they showed us everything they had and there were no records from that time period."

       The UA has twice assured Parton he was given all records related to use of radioactive material.  

       The UA first claimed that they had disclosed all records related to use of nuclear material when the university supplied 2 documents in response to a Public Records Request by Parton. 

       In November of last year,  Parton discovered that the UA had withheld documents from him and filed a second Public Records request. The UA then relinquished several documents originally withheld in response to Parton's first request and again assured Parton he now had the complete set.  

       The map was among the documents originally withheld by the UA.

Other missing documents

       In 1979, the Arizona Game & Fish Department collected 10 samples of wildlife from the Page-Trowbridge area to have them tested for possible radiation exposure. 

       Three red-tailed hawks were among the samples collected.

       According to Game & Fish, the red-tailed hawks were especially valuable because they are top carnivores. Had the hawks had been feeding on contaminated animals, the radioactive contamination would have accumulated in the hawk's organs and tissues; analyses of the organs and tissues would have provided evidence of whether radioactive contamination exists in the Page-Trowbridge area or not. 

       Only 2 test results were produced.  The other 8 test results, including those for the red tailed hawks, were apparently lost and are still missing. 

       A synopsis of the missing evidence may be read by clicking here.

Story From Arizona Daily Wildcat
(Arizona Daily Wildcat Online may be accessed here:
http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/)


 
UA linked to nuclear weapons research
By Blake Smith
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Dept. of Energy report finds university not environmental hazard, however
A report released yesterday by the federal government links the UA to possible secret involvement in nuclear-related activities, most likely in a scientific research capacity.

The U.S. Department of Energy reviewed the University of Arizona along with 576 other organizations around the nation to determine if nuclear environmental cleanup was needed at those locations.

The report, which was compiled in 1995 but remained classified until yesterday, cleared the UA of being an environmental hazard. 

That does not mean the university has not participated in nuclear research in the past, though, said Melvin Young, director of the UA Radiation Control Office.

"I can't say with absolute certainty that nothing was done in the '40s," Young said.

"Certainly, nothing like nuclear bombs or anything remotely close to that was being researched," he said. "It was probably more of the scientific aspects of metallurgy properties of uranium or thorium."

Young stressed that uranium and thorium have wider uses than just the creation of nuclear weapons.

Aubrey Godwin, director of the Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency, agreed that any work that was done by the university in nuclear research was likely confined to earlier in the century.

"Do they have radioactive material or explosives? I don't think they have that anymore," Godwin said. 

Records from the late 1940s and early 1950s are not very accurate, though, and the extent of the UA's possible involvement in nuclear research may not be known for some time, Godwin added. 

"I don't know that they did anything to actually put any weapons together," he said. 

In the late 1960s, officials from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission looked into the possibility of nuclear research being done at the UA and interviewed faculty members, Young said. 

Investigators left without taking any action, he added.

Four other Arizona sites, none of which were affiliated with the university, were also named in the report as possible environmental hazard sites.

Two sites, in Tuba City and Monument Valley, were recommended for cleanup.

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