U.S. military facilities perform a critical mission in supporting efforts to provide military protection for the nation against a range of threats. Unfortunately, a different set of threats is taking its toll on the very facilities the Pentagon relies on to carry out this mission. For example, a maintenance backlog of $19 billion at U.S. military facilities recently received much-needed attention. Now, a more potentially dangerous threat is arising at several military installations.
Test results from a survey of Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota found elevated levels of PCBs — chemical compounds that likely cause cancer — at the nuclear missile installation, according to Military.
Minot was the last site surveyed by the Air Force as part of its probe into health and cancer concerns at three installations. The surveys came after a Space Force officer raised alarm earlier this year about cases where missileers stationed at Malmstrom during their careers were diagnosed with cancer, prompting the Air Force to undergo a new study investigating a potential connection at all of America’s intercontinental ballistic missile bases.
In 2001, the Air Force did a site evaluation and sampled for potential chemical and biological contaminants at Malmstrom after cases of various cancers from missileers were reported, including cervical cancer, thyroid cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma and two cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in which those patients died, according to a 2005 report.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
