Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research Superfund Site

Last updated

The Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research Superfund Site encompasses a 25-acre area, including a former research facility that studied the impact of radiation on beagle dogs, and its adjacent landfill, at the University of California, Davis (UCD). [1] University researchers began studying the possible effects of radiation from nuclear fallout in the 1950s, under an agreement with the unit of the United States Department of Defense that had overseen the Manhattan Project. [1] [2] As a result, the site became contaminated with toxic chemicals and dangerous metals such as strontium-90 and hexavalent chromium. [1]

Contents

In 2018, UC Davis reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), agreeing to spend $14 million to clean up the toxic landfill. [1] Currently, the site is undergoing cleanup processes by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA, also known as Superfund). [3] Site cleanup was jointly operated by the Department of Energy (USDOE) and the UCD, under an agreement negotiated among the EPA, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the University of California. [4]

History

The superfund site is situated approximately 1.5 mi (2.4 km) south of the UCD campus in Solano County, California. Research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy at the site commenced in the 1950s, with full-scale operations beginning in 1958, focusing on chronic, low-level exposure of skeletal structures to beta particle irradiation from bone-seeking radionuclides, strontium-90 and Radium-226. Over 1000 beagles were used as test subjects. [5] [6] Subsequent expansions led to the establishment of new laboratories on site, including a cobalt-60 irradiation field. [5]

Additionally, the site comprises three former landfills for UCD campus waste, waste disposal trenches and pits, and a chemical dispensing area. [4] [5] [7] In 1988, the Department of Energy's Environment Survey Preliminary Report pointed out several chronic environmental issues at the site. Consequently, in 1989, the department terminated the project. [8]

In the 1990s, remains of 800 beagles that had been irradiated were removed from the site, along with toxic dog waste and gravel. [9] The radioactive materials were then sent to a nuclear disposal facility in Washington state. [9]

Environmental impacts and contaminants

Various types of contaminants have been identified at the superfund site, with potential contamination of the local water sources through leaching from the contaminated soil, including groundwater and Putah River, which collects runoffs from the UCD area. Eating fish from the Putah River and drinking water from nearby wells are two potential exposures of the contaminants to the residents. [7] [8]

The primary contaminants identified by UCD include Chloroform, Hexavalent Chromium, and Nitrate. Chloroform, from the group of volatile organic compound, has infiltrated the shallowest aquifer. Hexavalent Chromium has also been detected in shallow groundwater, though it is currently not used for drinking purposes. Nitrate levels have been detected in on-site wells, already stabilized. [10] Many carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, and neurotoxic substances have also been identified on-site, including 1,2,3-trichloropropane, 1,2-dichloropropane, 1,4-dioxane, Indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, Radium-226, Dieldrin, Strontium-90, Silver, and Mercury, etc. [4] [7]

Remediation

Both the Department of Energy and UCD share responsibility for the cleanup of the site, with significant progress achieved since its designation as a Superfund site in 1994. [11] All structures have undergone decontamination and decommissioning, and the majority of contaminated soil and debris have been treated and removed by Department of Energy. [3] UCD has implemented multiple facilities to enhance the drainage system and mitigate further leaching of contaminants from the soil. [4] Both organizations are continuing to evaluate the groundwater at the site. The anticipated cleanup completion is September 2024 for sitewide reuse. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superfund</span> US federal program

Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is designed to pay for investigating and cleaning up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as Superfund sites. Of the tens of thousands of sites selected for possible action under the Superfund program, 1178 remain on the National Priorities List (NPL) that makes them eligible for cleanup under the Superfund program. Sites on the NPL are considered the most highly contaminated and undergo longer-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanups). The state of New Jersey, the fifth smallest state in the U.S., is the location of about ten percent of the priority Superfund sites, a disproportionate amount.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental remediation</span> Removal of pollution from soil, groundwater etc.

Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be required by regulations before development of land revitalization projects. Developers who agree to voluntary cleanup may be offered incentives under state or municipal programs like New York State's Brownfield Cleanup Program. If remediation is done by removal the waste materials are simply transported off-site for disposal at another location. The waste material can also be contained by physical barriers like slurry walls. The use of slurry walls is well-established in the construction industry. The application of (low) pressure grouting, used to mitigate soil liquefaction risks in San Francisco and other earthquake zones, has achieved mixed results in field tests to create barriers, and site-specific results depend upon many variable conditions that can greatly impact outcomes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pantex</span> U.S. nuclear weapons assembly facility

Pantex is the primary United States nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility that aims to maintain the safety, security and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. The facility is named for its location in the Panhandle of Texas on a 16,000-acre site 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Amarillo, in Carson County, Texas. The plant is managed and operated for the United States Department of Energy (DOE) by Consolidated Nuclear Security (CNS) and Sandia National Laboratories. CNS is composed of member companies Bechtel, Leidos, Orbital ATK, and SOC, with Booz Allen Hamilton as a teaming subcontractor. CNS also operates the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, a manufacturing facility for nuclear weapons components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hexavalent chromium</span> Chromium in the +6 oxidation state

Hexavalent chromium (chromium(VI), Cr(VI), chromium 6) is any chemical compound that contains the element chromium in the +6 oxidation state (thus hexavalent). It has been identified as carcinogenic, which is of concern since approximately 136,000 tonnes (150,000 tons) of hexavalent chromium were produced in 1985. Hexavalent chromium compounds can be carcinogens (IARC Group 1), especially if airborne and inhaled where they can cause lung cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munisport</span>

Munisport Landfill is a closed landfill located in North Miami, Florida adjacent to a low-income community, a regional campus of Florida International University, Oleta River State Park, and estuarine Biscayne Bay.

The Lipari Landill is an inactive landfill on a 6-acre (2.4 ha) former gravel pit in Mantua Township, New Jersey. It was used from 1958 to 1971 as a dump site for household and industrial wastes. Toxic organic compounds and heavy metals dumped at the site have percolated into the ground water and leached into lakes and streams in the surrounding area. The site has been identified as the worst toxic dump in the United States and was ranked at the top of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund eligibility list.

The former Operating Industries Inc. Landfill is a Superfund site located in Monterey Park, California at 900 N Potrero Grande Drive. From 1948 to 1984, the landfill accepted 30 million tons of solid municipal waste and 300 million US gallons (1,100,000 m3) of liquid chemicals. Accumulating over time, the chemical waste polluted the air, leached into groundwater, and posed a fire hazard, spurring severely critical public health complaints. Recognizing OII Landfill's heavy pollution, EPA placed the financial responsibility of the dump's clean-up on the main waste-contributing companies, winning hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements for the protection of human health and the environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown & Bryant</span>

Brown & Bryant Inc. was a chemical distribution company located in Arvin, California in Kern County. The land the company operated on is designated as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund cleanup site. The company was a formulator of agricultural chemicals including fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, and fumigants.

The Ringwood Mines landfill site is a 500 acres (200 ha) former iron mining site located in the borough of Ringwood, New Jersey. From 1967 to 1980, the Ford Motor Company dumped hazardous waste on this land, which negatively affected the health and properties of Ramapough Mountain Indians. This led to Mann V. Ford, a 1997 lawsuit between Ramapough Lenape Tribe's lawsuit of the Ford Motor Company.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency added the PJP Landfill site in Marion Section of Jersey City, New Jersey to the Superfund National Priorities List on September 1, 1983, because hazardous chemicals were found in the soil and groundwater. The 87-acre site located in Hudson County contained a landfill that may have been used as early as 1968 to dispose of chemical and industrial wastes. In 1971 the State certified the landfill to receive solid wastes. Approximately 11,900 people currently reside within a one-mile radius of the site. The west side of the site is bordered by the Hackensack River which is used for boating and commercial shipping. Recently, AMB Corporation purchased a portion of the site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shpack Landfill</span> Hazardous waste site in Massachusetts

Shpack Landfill is a hazardous waste site in Norton, Massachusetts. After assessment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it was added to the National Priorities List in October 1986 for long-term remedial action. The site cleanup is directed by the federal Superfund program. The Superfund site covers 9.4 acres, mostly within Norton, with 3.4 acres in the adjoining city of Attleboro. The Norton site was operated as a landfill dump accepting domestic and industrial wastes, including low-level radioactive waste, between 1946 and 1965. The source of most of the radioactive waste, consisting of uranium and radium, was Metals and Controls Inc. which made enriched uranium fuel elements for the U.S. Navy under contract with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. Metals and Controls merged with Texas Instruments in 1959. The Shpack landfill operation was shut down by a court order in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Koppers Co., Inc. Superfund Site</span>

The Koppers Co., Inc. (KCI) Superfund Site is one of three Superfund sites in Oroville, California, along with Louisiana Pacific Sawmill and Western Pacific Railyard. The KCI Superfund Site is a 200-acre site which served as a wood treatment plant for 50 years. Wood was treated with many chemicals to prevent wood deterioration. The accumulation of these chemicals from spills, fires, and uses has caused this site to be contaminated with the hazardous waste material. Due to soil and groundwater contamination, the site was placed on the National Priorities List in 1984 for remedial action plans to clean up the site to protect surrounding residential areas concerning environmental and human health risks.

The Dewey Loeffel Landfill is an EPA superfund site located in Rensselaer County, New York. In the 1950s and 1960s, several companies including General Electric, Bendix Corporation and Schenectady Chemicals used the site as a disposal facility for more than 46,000 tons of industrial hazardous wastes, including solvents, waste oils, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), scrap materials, sludges and solids. Some hazardous substances, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and PCBs, have migrated from the facility to underlying aquifers and downstream surface water bodies, resulting in contamination of groundwater, surface water, sediments and several species of fish. There is currently a ban on fish consumption in Nassau Lake and the impacted tributaries. Following prior assessments and attempts at mitigating drainage from the site, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has placed the site on its National Priority List. As of 2024, the EPA reports ongoing site investigations.

Adams Plating, also known as Adam's Plating, is a 1-acre (0.40-hectare) Superfund site in Lansing Charter Township near Lansing, Michigan.

The K & L Avenue Landfill, also known by the spelling K&L Avenue Landfill, is an 87-acre (35-hectare) Superfund site accessed from KL Avenue in Oshtemo Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan. It is one of six Superfund sites in the Kalamazoo River watershed.

Thermo-Chem, Inc., also referred to as Thermo-Chem, is a 50-acre Superfund site located in Egelston Township near Muskegon, Michigan.

The G&H Industrial Landfill is a Superfund site located in Shelby Charter Township near Utica, Michigan, United States. The 60-acre (24-hectare) landfill, with about 10 to 20 acres of adjacent property, operated as a waste oil recovery facility from 1955 to 1967. From 1955 to 1974 the site was used as an industrial and municipal landfill. Contaminated soil, surface water, and groundwater with hazardous chemicals have been left behind as a result of the disposal of waste solvents, waste oil and paint sludge. Operation and maintenance activities are ongoing following the cleanup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio River Park</span> Contaminated site in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Ohio River Park is a Superfund Site located in Neville Island, Pennsylvania. Between the 1920s-1970s, the Site was used for municipal waste, pesticide manufacturing, coke sludge disposal, cement manufacturing disposal, and pesticide waste. In 1977, Neville Land Company donated the Site to Allegheny County who started developing the Site as a community park. In 1979, Allegheny County found various hazardous contaminants on the Site. On August 30, 1990, the Site was determined to be a Superfund Site due to VOCs, SVOCs, inorganics, and pesticides being present in the surface soil, subsurface soil, surface water, river sediment, and groundwater. Soil remediation began in February 1998 and ended in September 1999. Today, Ohio River Park has the Robert Morris University Island Sports Center and Coraopolis Bridge on top of it. Additionally, benzene continues to be monitored because it is still present in the Site's groundwater.

The Garfield Groundwater Contamination site is a Superfund site located in Garfield, New Jersey. The site was formally occupied by E.C Electroplating, an electroplating company that used chromic acid solution in their products. In 1983, a tank at the E.C Electroplating property malfunctioned and spilled chromic acid into the groundwater underneath the property that subsequently spread to the surrounding area. The contamination presented a health risk to Garfield residents in the area due to exposure to hexavalent chromium, a toxic form of chromium. The site was designated a Superfund site in 2011. Cleanup of the site is ongoing as of 2022.

The "Beagle Club" radiation experiments were a series of studies sponsored by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, which took place over four decades starting in the 1950s. They were conducted across six American states at research facilities including Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago; Colorado State University in Fort Collins; Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Hanford; University of California at Davis; University of Utah in Salt Lake City; and the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute in Albuquerque.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kasler, Dale (October 6, 2018). "UC Davis agrees to $14M cleanup of site of Cold War radiation tests on beagles". The Sacramento Bee . Retrieved October 6, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Sangree, Hudson (November 14, 2011). "Superfund: Radioactive legacy (from Page A1)". The Sacramento Bee . p. A12. Retrieved October 6, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 USDOE Fact Sheet. CERCLA LEHR Site Description and History. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]. https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2020/02/f71/Laboratory%20for%20Energy-Related%20Health%20Research%2C%20California%2C%20Site%20Fact%20Sheet%20%28February%202020%29.pdf. ‌
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 US EPA, OSRTI. 2021. LABORATORY FOR ENERGY-RELATED HEALTH RESEARCH/OLD CAMPUS LANDFILL (USDOE) | Superfund Site Profile | Superfund Site Information | US EPA. Epagov. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0904786
  5. 1 2 3 History of LEHR Superfund Site. 2024. Gfredleecom. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]. https://www.gfredlee.com/DSCSOC/history.htm.
  6. ↑ Site Information and History Info-squ Book-ope. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]. https://www.energy.gov/lm/articles/laboratory-energy-related-health-research-lehr-california-site-fact-sheet.
  7. 1 2 3 ToxicSites. 2024. Toxicsitesus. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]. https://www.toxicsites.us/site.php?epa_id=CA2890190000#.
  8. 1 2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. SITE SUMMARY. December 1995. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]. https://lmpublicsearch.lm.doe.gov/sitedocs/DOC_7.pdf.
  9. 1 2 Sangree, Hudson (November 14, 2011). "UCD faces Superfund cleanup". The Sacramento Bee . p. A1. Retrieved October 6, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ McAdow DK. 2019 Jun 26. LEHR Superfund Site. Safety Services. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]. https://safetyservices.ucdavis.edu/units/ehs/environmental-protection-management/lehr-superfund-site.
  11. ↑ IET WebDev. 1994 May 27. Former LEHR Site Placed On Superfund List. UC Davis. [accessed 2024 Feb 7]. https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/former-lehr-site-placed-superfund-list.

38°31′07″N121°45′04″W / 38.5187°N 121.7512°W / 38.5187; -121.7512

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.