[CPEO-MEF] Brookhaven Lab

[lsiegel@cpeo.org]

BROOKHAVEN LAB POLLUTION

70 years to clean water?

Officials say faster job that some seek would be too
costly

BY ANN GIVENS
Long Island Newsday (NY)
January 16, 2005

To some environmentalists, 70 years is too long to spend cleaning up
contamination in the groundwater at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

That's how long laboratory officials propose taking to get rid of the
radiation there, using the most efficient method.

Lab officials say that the radioactive isotope that is polluting the
water, strontium-90, isn't spreading, and that there is no danger in
taking longer than they had planned to clean it up. The lab's original
estimate for the cleanup, which began in 2000, was 30 years, although it
anticipated re-evaluating the time frame.

But some lab watchdogs say such delay would set a bad precedent.

"We'll all be dead in 70 years, so we should take responsibility and
clean it up sooner," said Adrianne Esposito, associate executive
director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, a nonprofit,
nonpartisan advocacy organization, and a member of the lab's Community
Advisory Council. "It sends the wrong message to say that it's OK to
leave this area contaminated for the next two generations."

...

For the entire article, see (you may need to copy and paste the URL)
http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/longislandlife/ny-hubak4113925jan16,0,7532183.story?coll=ny-lilife-print


-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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