Nuclear Health and Safety: Sites Used for Disposal of Radioactive Waste
in Alaska (Fact Sheet, 07/06/94, GAO/RCED-94-130FS).

GAO's review of available information on Project Chariot--an experiment
conducted in the 1960s by the former Atomic Energy Commission in which
radioactive waste was buried in Alaska--suggests that the amount of
radioactive material at the site is not harmful to humans. GAO also
identified six Army and Air Force installation in Alaska where
radioactive materials had either been disposed of or stored on-site.
These radioactive materials involved such items as nuclear power reactor
cooling water and smoke detectors. In addition, the Naval Arctic
Research Laboratory was used by various institutions for research that
included the use of radioactive tracers. Amchitka Island, where
underground nuclear tests were done from 1965 to 1971, is being
monitored by the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection
Agency. The Army Corps of Engineers must still determine whether 138
defense facilities no longer owned by the federal government are
contaminated by hazardous or radioactive materials and whether remedial
action is required. Sites at five other nonfederal facilities that
disposed of or stored radioactive materials were also brought to GAO's
attention. These involved (1) storage of pipe contaminated with
radioactive material resulting from oil drilling and (2) land and ocean
disposal of radioactive waste resulting from university research and
aircraft manufacturing.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-94-130FS
     TITLE:  Nuclear Health and Safety: Sites Used for Disposal of 
             Radioactive Waste in Alaska
      DATE:  07/06/94
   SUBJECT:  Radioactive waste disposal
             Nuclear waste management
             Nuclear facility safety
             Nuclear waste storage
             Radioactive wastes
             Safety regulation
             Energy research
             Nuclear radiation monitoring
             Environmental monitoring
             Radioactive pollution
IDENTIFIER:  AEC Project Chariot
             Alaska
             Amchitka Island (AK)
             Hanford (WA)
             North Slope (AK)
             Cook Inlet (AK)
             Kenai National Wildlife Refuge (AK)
             DOD Environmental Restoration Program
             
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