Unalaska, AK – In the 1960s and 70s the U.S. government tested three nuclear warheads on Amchitka Island, one of which was the largest underground nuclear testing in U.S. history. In 2011, the Department of Energy is going back to the island to see if residual nuclear contaminants are affecting the plants and animals that live at or near the test sites. The Department of Energy did some tests in 2006, but Aleutian Pribilof Island Association Community Environment and Safety Program Manager Karen Pletnikoff said they didn't gather enough data to fully understand what is happening there under normal conditions and how it might affect things like food resources.

"Right now we don't believe there has been any leaking from Amchitka, from the test sites. But we need data that's of sufficiency low level to determine the difference between background and what might be leaking from Amchitka. So this sampling expedition will be very useful to provide that detailed level of data by collecting large sample volumes and concentrating them to find these minute amounts of background levels."

Pletnikoff said the APIA-DOE sampling project will use divers and hook and line fishermen to collect fish samples in nearby waters. Others will collect rock weed and lichen on land and fish for Dolly Vardens in the lakes. They want to see what radio nucleotides are present at a time when they don't think there has been any leakage. After they get the baseline data they will check the sites again every five years.

Leakage of radio nucleotides from the test sites could be caused by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or moving tectonic plates. Though Amchitka is fairly isolated, Pletnikoff said the effects of a leak could be more wide ranging. "Because of the ocean currents leakage from Amchitka will not be simply a local issue around the island but could very well be an issue for much of the Bering Sea."

It's also unclear how the changing climate and ocean conditions will affect the sites. "It should be very interesting to see if there are any impacts to Amchitka as we see changes in the ocean from acidification to climate change to sea level rise. What impacts could these changes have to how the island behaves, maybe the biota on and around the island and any potential leakage in the future," she said.

The contaminants are known to cause major health problems if people are highly exposed to them. Small exposure levels could also lead to reproductive issues and other negative health conditions. But Pletnikoff says those potential risks need to be balanced with other known risks.

"It's very difficult to suss out the difference between contaminant driven health impacts and lifestyle or Western diet driven impacts. But we know for a fact that the Western diet is contributing to the health impact of the things that people are actually dying of," such as diabetes and heart disease. "So there's the ongoing need to monitor foods to make sure that they don't have levels of concern, but on the other hand it's also very important to emphasize how a subsistence diet and traditional foods plan an important role in overall human health."

Pletnikoff said the detailed sampling of the sites that will take place next summer and will provide data to help assess the residual risks of the nuclear testing.