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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 14 February 2019
Study: No leaking radiation from Alaska island nuclear site

By RACHEL D'ORO ering. was equal to the 400 times
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Wright's group is a partner the power of the bomb
— The latest round of test- with the Department of En- dropped on Hiroshima,
ing on Alaska's remote ergy in the periodic sam- according to information
Amchitka Island found pling tests, including the on the National Park Ser-
no radioactive material latest studies. vice website. Between 700
has leaked from locations "And so far, we're not see- and 2,000 sea otters were
where the federal govern- ing any leakage," he said. killed by pressure changes
ment conducted under- "That's good news." caused by the explosion.
ground nuclear tests there The 2011 sampling report Amchitka, which became
decades ago, a federal of- said tests indicated that part of the Alaska Maritime
ficial said Tuesday. seafood harvested near National Wildlife Refuge in
Environmental samples the now-unoccupied is- 1980, was part of another
tested in 2016 show no land is safe to eat. The re- refuge when it was chosen
subsurface migration of port also said radioactive for the nuclear tests, given
radioactive material, said material from the nuclear the island's remoteness and
Jason Nguyen with the tests has remained in the existing infrastructure from
U.S. Department of Energy. subsurface of each blast the former military base.
Samples tested in 2011 also location, with the excep- Other projects that fol-
showed no "excessive risk" tion of small concentrations lowed at Amchitka include
was found, he said. The of radioactive material de- the construction and oper-
department funds sample tected in several places in ation of a radar station. The
testing conducted on the subsurface water after the island is now uninhabited.
island every five years. This file photo from June of 1971 shows a buckled cement pad first nuclear test. Radiation-related cancers
that was damaged from the 1 megaton nuclear blast "Milrow",
"Our preliminary results detonated 4,000 feet underground in 1969, Amchitka Island, The first of the nuclear were far more common
for 2016 are showing that Alaska the site of nuclear bomb testing in the 1960s and 1970s. blasts, dubbed Long Shot, among scores of people
that conclusion still holds," Associated Press was launched in 1965 with who worked on Amchitka
Nguyen said as he mod- a goal of improving de- than among the general
erated a panel discussion of the diesel-fuel filled mud military built a base there tections of underground population, according to
Tuesday at an environmen- was exposed. The damage during World War II as a nuclear explosions. The health screenings done
tal forum in Anchorage. A has not yet been repaired. strategic defense post, said second test, called Milrow, through a federal govern-
final report on that study is Three nuclear tests were Bruce Wright, the science was conducted in 1969 to ment program. The pro-
expected later this year. conducted between 1965 adviser for the Aleutian assess detonations of much gram compensated hun-
Nguyen, the department's and 1971 on Amchitka, Pribilof Islands Association, larger bombs. dreds of workers for medi-
site manager for Amchit- located in the Aleutian a tribal organization for The final blast, called Can- cal costs.
ka work, also said a 2014 Islands chain 1,340 miles Alaska's Aleuts including nikin, the largest under- Others, like Hayden Mc-
earthquake with a mag- southwest of Anchorage. those on the closest occu- ground nuclear test in U.S. Clure of Palmer, Alaska,
nitude 7.9 damaged the The island was occupied pied location, Adak Island, history, was launched in received no compensation
caps of three drilling mud by Aleuts for thousands of 200 miles east of Amchit- 1971 as a weapons-related because he worked there
pits on the now-uninhabit- years. But they were long ka. Wright was among the test. That detonation lifted many years after the nucle-
ed island. But he said none gone by the time the U.S. speakers at Tuesday's gath- the ground 20 feet and ar blasts. q

World's oldest known wild bird

hatches chick on Midway Atoll

HONOLULU (AP) — The lay and hatch eggs since ocean — feeding on squid
oldest known wild bird in 2006. Laysan albatrosses and fish eggs.
the world has become a mate for life and lay one Midway Atoll is home to
mother again at the Mid- egg per year. about 3 million seabirds,
way Atoll National Wildlife "She's incredibly powerful including about 1 million
Refuge, U.S. wildlife officials as a symbol of why we do albatrosses.
said. what we do and why peo- They return to the places
In this 2018 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The Laysan albatross ple all over the world pay of their birth to nest and
is Wisdom, the world's oldest known breeding bird with a chick named Wisdom hatched a attention to her," said Beth raise their young, accord-
sits in a nest at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and chick earlier this month at Flint, a Fish and Wildlife ing to the Fish and Wildlife
Battle of Midway National Memorial.
Associated Press the remote atoll northwest Service biologist. "Wisdom Service.
of Hawaii, the Honolulu is rewriting history about "Midway Atoll's habitat
Star-Advertiser reported our understanding of sur- doesn't just contain millions
Monday. vivorship, how long birds of birds, it contains count-
Wisdom is at least 68 years live, and how often they less generations and fami-
old and has raised at least breed." lies of albatrosses," said Kel-
31 chicks, U.S. Fish and Wild- Albatross parents take ly Goodale, biologist at the
life Service officials said. turn incubating an egg refuge. "If you can imag-
Wisdom was first banded for about seven months. ine when Wisdom returns
as an adult in 1956. Chicks fly out to sea about home she is likely surround-
Wisdom and her mate, five to six months after ed by what were once her
Akeakamai, have been hatching. They spend most chicks and potentially their
returning to the atoll to of their lives flying over the chicks."q