[CPEO-MEF] RADIATION: "Navy: Radium in Bethpage [NY] groundwater likely naturally occurring"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Navy: Radium in Bethpage groundwater likely naturally occurring
The Navy also said its probe will continue and will include testing for radioactive materials and interviewing former employees.

By Emily C. Dooley
Long Island Newsday (NY)
April 17, 2018 

A Navy report to Congress about radium in Bethpage groundwater supplies says the detections are consistent with naturally occurring levels of the radioactive element, and likely not from past military or defense contractor operations.

Still, the Navy also said it is undertaking an inspection and assessment of the 600-acre site, where the military and what is now Northrop Grumman ran manufacturing, testing and research operations from the 1930s to mid-1990s. 

The ongoing probe will include testing for radium in groundwater, monitoring wells and storm water runoff as well as interviewing former employees. Testing should begin this month, said JC Kreidel, a spokeswoman for Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

“This report provides documentation that the concentration of radium and other radioactive materials identified in groundwater in the vicinity of [the Navy site in] Bethpage are consistent with naturally-occurring levels and common geochemical factors normally found in the regional aquifer,” said the report obtained by Newsday.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/radium-groundwater-bethpage-navy-1.18114701

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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