Friday, May 23, 2003 | 6:49 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION
May 25, 2003
Benjamin Grove covers Washington, D.C., for the Sun. He can be reached at [email protected] or (202) 662-7245.
AN OBSCURE Defense Department agency soon may seek a place to store the federal government's mercury stockpile. And you guessed it -- Nevada is on the short list.
But government officials are quick to note that this is no Yucca Mountain-type search.
For one thing, unlike the nuclear waste repository project slated for Yucca, Nevada may have more of a choice about whether it wants the mercury. And elemental mercury is not nearly as dangerous as nuclear waste, officials say.
"Mercury is perfectly safe when it's stored well," said John Reinders, spokesman for the Defense National Stockpile Center. "And we do store it very well."
At issue is the U.S. government's stockpile of 4,890 tons of pure elemental mercury, the silvery liquid metal found in old thermometers, and now stored in sites in Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey and Tennessee.
The $25 million stockpile is officially managed by the Defense National Stockpile Center, based at Fort Belvoir, Va., which since World War II has been charged with storing materials for national emergencies, such as war.
The center has an interesting history of collecting stuff -- everything from rubber to industrial-use diamonds to feathers (for stuffing and bedding). But the center has long since unloaded many of its stockpiles and was in the process of selling off its mercury until environmental concerns put a stop to that in 1994, Reinders said.
By next year, officials at the center plan to decide on one of three options for the mercury: resume sales, leave the mercury where it is or consolidate it in a national repository. Consolidation is the leading option, Reinders said.
Any of the four current sites are possible contenders for a single repository. But three others also have emerged: sites in Utah, New York and the Hawthorne Army Depot about two hours southeast of Reno.
If the Stockpile Center opts for a single storage area, Hawthorne and the other sites would compete for the project. Hawthorne would love to have it. Hawthorne is an ammunitions storage center that is always looking for peace-time projects to keep it viable, said Tiny Cardenas, civilian executive assistant for the depot.
"We don't see any safety concerns," Cardenas said.
Stockpile Center officials say the government's mercury is safely stored in 76-pound flasks, six of which are then stored in a 30-gallon, air- and liquid-tight steel drum. The Stockpile Center envisions storage warehouses in which rows of the drums are stored together.
Pure elemental mercury is not the notoriously bad substance people think it is, Reinders said. He said a person could "drink a vial" of mercury and be fine -- it would go right through their system with no ill effects.
Stockpile Center officials note that the stockpiled mercury is not waste, but a commodity bought and sold internationally, including in the United States -- for light fixtures, medical equipment, even in cars.
But environmentalists and Nevada officials are quick to stress the potential dangers of mercury, which can be deadly when it vaporizes in the environment.
Mercury also can be transformed by bacterial processes into the far more dangerous methylmercury, which has found its way into the food chain, mostly through fish. A number of states warn people not to fish in certain waters specifically because of mercury, including Nevada's Carson River.
Ultimately, mercury exposure can result in nervous-system damage and sensory impairment, experts say.
Nevada officials will take a careful look at any proposal Hawthorne might make to store the nation's mercury, said administrator Allen Biaggi of the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, which has long battled mercury pollution left behind by mining operations.
"Mercury is very persistent," Biaggi said. "It doesn't go away. We're always working to take mercury out of the environment."
Biaggi said he didn't yet have a personal opinion about the mercury repository. As I was ending my interview with Biaggi, I asked him: "Doesn't it seem like Nevada is always under consideration for government dump projects?"
Without pause he answered, "Sure does."
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