The US Air Force has previously stated that their nuclear missile capsules, which had been in use for decades, were safe. However, many of the crew members who have worked on these missiles since the 1960s have cancer, according to records obtained by the Associated Press on Friday (Dec 29). Some of the dangerous risks in these capsules, according to the records, included a vast pool of dark liquid festering on the floor, no fresh air, and asbestos readings 50 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) safety regulations.
An Air Force investigation concluded on December 30, 2001, that the workplace (capsules) posed no health risks. The documents, however, which date back to the 1980s, depict a quite different story from what the Air Force said when reports of cancer among service members started to emerge.
“Sometimes, illnesses tend to occur by chance alone,” a follow-up 2005 Air Force review found, the report said, adding that the capsules were again under scrutiny.
Hundreds of missile launchers have been diagnosed with cancer
Earlier this month, the Associated Press reported that at least nine current or former nuclear missile officials, also known as missileers, had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a kind of blood cancer. Following the release of this information, hundreds of others came forward to self-report their cancer diagnoses.
As a result, the Air Force conducted its most extensive review to date, testing thousands of air, water, soil, and surface samples in all of the locations where the service personnel worked. According to the report, four current samples contained dangerous amounts of polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs.
PCBs are recognized carcinogens that are found in electrical wiring. Current missileers told the news agency that the fresh revelations worried them, but that the air force was being transparent in its search for toxins.
“Whenever you hear ‘cancer’ it’s a little concerning,” said Lt. Joy Hawkins, 23, a missileer at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. Lt. Samantha McGlinchey, another missileer at the base said, “There’s more testing, things to come, cleanup efforts.”
More information will be available early next year. The Air Force has already begun an official count of the number of present and past missile community service personnel who have cancer.
The indicators
Currently, the United States has three nuclear missile bases: F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Minot, and Malmstrom. Each of these facilities has 15 subterranean launch capsules that are manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The memos obtained by AP contained several cautions about previous harmful threats. According to the report, an environmental crew at Malmstrom base’s Capsules Hotel and Juliet obtained asbestos readings from beneath a generator in the capsule equipment rooms, which are also underground within the same sealed-in workspace.
The EPA’s asbestos exposure level is 1% for an eight-hour workday. But missileers were kept there for at least 24 hours at a time. If the weather is poor and the replacement crew cannot get to the site, a team could be trapped below for up to three days.
Both the Hotel and Juliet capsules contained solid chrysotile asbestos particles. However, the concerns were downplayed in the official study.
“Asbestos presents a health hazard only when it is crushed (able to be crushed or pulverized by hand pressure.) All suspect (asbestos) was found to be in good condition,” an annual review of the Hotel said.
All of these capsules would be decommissioned in a few years once the Sentinel, a massive ICBM, came online. The old capsules would be dismantled, and a new, modern subterranean control center would be constructed on their site.
The Air Force personnel working on the new designs are privy to the cancer reports and would apply modern environmental health standards in the new center, said Maj. Gen. John Newberry, commander of the Air Force’s nuclear weapons center.