Inspectors checked out seven sites in four locations over two days but found nothing.
The Federal Street entrance to the campus of Springfield Technical Community College carries a reminder of the site's historical past as the Springfield Armory.SPRINGFIELD – Inspectors found no traces of depleted uranium at several sites that were part of the former Springfield Armory during a two-day search, officials said.
A dozen inspectors with the state Department of Public Health’s Radiation Control Program spent two days conducting a radiological survey at several sites that were either part of the armory or used by the federal facility prior to its closing in 1968.
Julia Hurley, spokeswoman with the Department of Public Health said the inspection did not find any evidence of depleted uranium.
Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the production of enriched uranium for nuclear power. It has 40-percent less radioactivity, but the same chemical toxicity as natural uranium, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Depleted uranium is commonly used in armor-piercing ammunition. It has been
linked to long-term health problems, primarily caused inhaling metal fragments from spent rounds.
Army records showed the federal Armory received 1,400 spotting rounds during the early to mid-1960s, but there was no record of what happened to most of them after that.
Records show only that 200 of the rounds were sent to a site in Pennsylvania after Springfield.
Spotting rounds were used to mimic the trajectory of actual bullets. They were used to test the performance and accuracy of weapons, primarily at indoor ranges.
The Army is conducting a separate review of its own archived records to locate the missing rounds, but it is not expected to be completed until late April.
Hurley said the inspection was conducted at seven separate sites in four areas at Springfield Technical Community College, The STCC Technology Park, and One Allen Street at Watershops Pond, which were all part of the armory, and the Rail Head area of the Smith&Wesson grounds.
Hurley said inspectors still have some work to wrap up at the technology park and that will be done sometime this weekend.
Once the testing is completed, Hurley said state officials will wait to hear the results of the Army records search.