Editorial: Beatty dumpsite should be tested

DESPITE its resistance to the idea, the state should seek independent testing to determine whether plutonium is migrating away from a low-level nuclear waste dump in Beatty, just 110 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

It wasn't until a General Accounting Office report was released two weeks ago that the public was told 47 pounds of plutonium, one of the world's most lethal substances, was buried at Beatty. Last week a Los Angeles-based environmental group, the Committee to Bridge the Gap, called for tests.

Other man-made radioactive elements have been found more than 300 feet outside the dump's fence, but no tests have been done to figure out if the plutonium is contaminating the area or endangering the ground water, according to Daniel Hirsch, an analyst for the Committee to Bridge the Gap. Traces of radioactivity have been detected in the ground water there, which drifts to the Amargosa Valley, about 70 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Amargosa Valley, one of the most fertile in the state, includes fields for dairy cows, fruits and vegetables. "What they've found so far is like the canary in the coal mine," Hirsch said of the other radioactive elements that have been discovered.

Why should we be worried? As the Sun's Mary Manning reported on Thursday, just a speck of plutonium weighing a millionth of an ounce will cause lung cancer, if inhaled. So this substance isn't something, for example, on the order of a household chemical solvent.

But the state's radiological health officials question whether the radioactivity outside the dump's fence is coming from the site or it originated from other sources, such as fallout from bomb testing. Hopefully, Hirsch's belief that the plutonium has traveled outside the dump will be found to be in error. But until the state conducts the appropriate tests, the public will continue to be in the dark.

One of the primary duties for government is to ensure the protection of the public's safety from environmental dangers. It's time for the state to stand up and look out for the public interest and order tests to determine whether the plutonium is moving outside the Beatty dumpsite.

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