Re: OMINOUS EVIDENCE

["James Reese" <james.reese@worldnet.att.net>]

I guess I would ask if anyone is really surprised at the find?  Military
bases which were in operation during W.W.II that any type of repair mission
have a high potential for having disposed of radium components in landfills
on site.

The next question would be regarding the type of remedial investigation was
performed at the landfills to clear them from suspicion.  Whatever was
performed, if the gauge is radioactive, there should be a more thorough
review performed.

James H. Reese
Health Physicist
(916) 689-2680 tel.
(916) 689-6270 fax
james.reese@worldnet.att.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Susan Gawarecki <loc@icx.net>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Sent: October 14, 1999 8:00 AM
Subject: OMINOUS EVIDENCE


> This article was just brought to my attention, although it's now
> month-old news.  I thought RadSafe list members might be interested.
>
> --Susan Gawarecki
>
> OMINOUS EVIDENCE
>
> ENVIRONMENT: The apparent discovery of a radioactive gauge at El Toro
> puts pressure on cleanup officials.
>
> September 15, 1999
>
> By PAT BRENNAN
> The Orange County Register
>
> The first physical evidence that the Navy might have dumped radioactive
> material into at least one landfill on the El Toro Marine Base has been
> brought forward by a local chemist.
>
> The find could increase pressure on the military to thoroughly
> investigate landfills on the now-closed base for radioactive
> contamination.
>
> The evidence - a rusty instrument gauge - showed a strong radioactive
> response in a test by a health physicist Friday at California State
> University, Fullerton.
>
> Chemist Chuck Bennett, a member of a federally mandated citizens panel
> that is keeping close track of environmental cleanup at the base, said
> he picked up the gauge on the surface of an old landfill in an area of
> the northeast corner of the base that is to become a wildlife reserve.
>
> The Orange County Register reported in July that ground water flowing
> from beneath the reserve site was radioactive.
>
> "The Navy has said all along that there might be radioactive waste,"
> Bennett said. "Now that we know for sure, it's no longer a question of,
> 'Is there a problem.' It's now, 'How bad is it?' "
>
> Navy spokesman Lee Saunders said the Navy has received no official word
> on Bennett's find, including notice from Bennett himself, so it could
> take no action.
>
> Saunders also questioned the authenticity of the find, and said that if
> Bennett did take a gauge from the site, which is fenced and locked, he
> had done so improperly. The base closed July 1.
>
> "Anything out there would be U.S. government property," he said. "It
> shouldn't have been taken from the base."
>
> The gauge, about the size of a tuna can, does not emit enough radiation
> to pose a health hazard, said Sue Fisher, a health physicist and
> radiation-safety officer at Cal State Fullerton.
>
> She said the gauge is probably contaminated by radium 226, the same
> element painted on instrument dials in the 1940s, '50s and '60s at the
> El Toro base.
>
> Navy officials have said items from the paint room, and pieces of the
> radium-painting building that was later torn down, might have been
> dumped in one or more base landfills. But they have been unable to
> locate any records from that time, despite requests from the citizens
> panel and the news media.
>
> Cleanup officials working for the Navy also have said they would conduct
> a more thorough study of the landfills for signs of radioactive
> contamination. But they have not released any details of how the study
> will be done, or whether it would include a search for radium 226.
>
> The Navy's Saunders said a draft plan for the study will be prepared by
> November and, if approved by regulators, could be performed in spring
> 2000.
>
> Both the apparent age and the style of the gauge indicate it came from
> the radium-painting period, Bennett said. The numbers and any visible
> paint have long since worn away, but an indicator needle is still
> attached to the now-blank face of the gauge.
>
> The dumping of such material into landfills in past decades is neither
> surprising nor uncommon. Before sophisticated health studies showed the
> dangers of radioactive material, radium was frequently used both inside
> and outside the military.
>
> Everything from watches to aircraft panels could be made to glow in the
> dark with radium 226. Such dials, far more reliable than those lit by
> electricity, were especially useful in combat situations.
>
> What is of great concern to Bennett and other members of the Restoration
> Advisory Board, a panel mandated by the federal government to ensure
> public participation, is how the Navy is handling cleanup of potentially
> contaminated sites.
>
> Bennett, a member of the board for three years, said the Navy has
> consistently shown reluctance to thoroughly investigate the landfills
> for radioactive material and other contaminants.
>
> Saunders, however, countered that the Navy has been open and forthcoming
> with the public, including holding regular public meetings.
>
> "This is the most open process, ever, for dealing with environmental
> cleanup in the history of the Department of Defense," he said.
>
> The Navy submitted a report in May detailing evidence of radioactive
> contamination on the base after the report was requested by state
> regulators. The regulators are now awaiting the draft plan for the next
> radiation study.
>
> Bennett also wants to ensure that the Navy test specifically for radium
> 226, and that the tests are conducted below the surface - even if that
> means excavating the site. Cal State Fullerton scientist Fisher said
> many low-level radioactive emissions can be blocked by about a foot of
> soil.
>
> Previous tests by the Navy showed radioactive emissions from ground
> water on some base sites, but the tests were not specific enough to
> determine exactly what element was producing the radiation.
>
> Bennett said he and others found the gauge in July while visiting a
> nearby archery range on the El Toro base. Saying his previous criticisms
> of the base cleanup could make some skeptical of the genuineness of his
> find, he said he has never let the gauge out of his sight and can
> produce witnesses who were present when the gauge was found.
>
> Deirdre Dement, a health physicist at the state Department of Health
> Services and one of the officials overseeing the El Toro cleanup, said
> that if the find is genuine it could prompt a more thorough search for
> other radioactive contaminants on the base.
>
> "If they've found something on top of the ground, I definitely think
> there's a need for further surveys - or something," Dement said.
>
> She did not, however, advocate excavation, fearing that disturbing the
> landfill waste could in itself present a hazard. Instead, she would
> prefer to develop an estimate of the amount of radioactive contamination
> and, based on that, impose restrictions on future use of the site.
> --
> ==================================================
> Susan L. Gawarecki, Ph.D., Executive Director
> Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee, Inc.
> 136 South Illinois Avenue, Suite 208
> Oak Ridge, Tennessee  37830
> Phone (423) 483-1333; Fax (423) 482-6572; E-mail loc@icx.net
> VISIT OUR UPDATED WEB SITE:  http://www.local-oversight.org
> ==================================================
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