tainted water near weapons dump
Untitled: "Article published Apr 11, 2006
'Just dig it all up'
Livermore's plan for tainted water near weapons dump has critics
TRACY - Environmentalists want Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to dig deeper for the solution to a plume of tainted water draining from an old weapons dump nine miles southwest of Tracy.
The lab has unveiled a plan to divert rainwater around the landfill. But some critics would like to see the contaminated earth removed entirely. The soil contains radioactive residue that leaches into the groundwater, forming an underground plume of contaminated water up to 2 miles long.
"They ought to just dig it all up," said community activist Bob Sarvey, who attended a public meeting on the topic last week. "We need to get it out of there and eliminate the threat."
It's the latest debate over cleanup at Site 300, the laboratory's 11-square-mile testing range in the Altamont Hills. The lab has tested explosives there for half a century.
Experts are zeroing in on the northwest corner of Site 300, where weapons components were dumped into a series of landfills over a period of more than three decades.
Those unlined landfills, called the Pit 7 complex, are on the federal Superfund list of the nation's most-toxic cleanup sites. Chemicals such as depleted uranium and tritium - a radioactive form of hydrogen - have seeped into the water and degraded water quality, Lawrence Livermore officials say.
The lab proposes digging hillside trenches to steer rainwater away from the lower landfills. That would prevent a scenario seen in very wet years, when the rain soaks into the ground and causes the aquifer to rise into the landfill about 25 feet below ground level.
Digging up the contaminated soil would add tens of millions of dollars to the $11million-to-$15million price tag and could expose workers to unhealthy conditions, the lab says in its report. What's more, even with removal, contaminants could remain in very deep layers of rock that could not be unearthed.
The lab also plans to pump out groundwater and treat many of the chemicals. But there is no way to purify water tainted with tritium, a substance often used in the triggering mechanisms of thermonuclear weapons.
A tritium-tainted plume of water is drifting downstream at about 33 feet per year, lab hydrologist Michael Taffet said.
At the rate tritium decays, the water should be within drinking standards within 45 years, he said.
The plume is moving slowly and will not endanger Tracy's water supply or infiltrate water tables tapped by developments planned in the southwest part of the city, he said. While the cancer-causing toxin could cause some risk to workers who spend extended periods at Site 300, there is no risk to residents, Taffet said.
That doesn't satisfy Marylia Kelley, who heads the watchdog group Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment.
Her group suggests not only removing some of the dirt but also injecting clean water in front of the plume to slow it down long enough to let the tritium decay.
"If you can hold a plume in place, you should hold it in place," Kelley said. "You don't let it migrate and contaminate clean groundwater."
While weapons testing continues at Site 300, officials say they have adapted practices to prevent future contamination.
For example, since in 1988, lab workers no longer dump exploded test assemblies and other hazardous items into the pits. Four of the landfills have been capped.
But critics say the soil should have been excavated years ago, when the work would have been cheaper.
If not then, do it now, Sarvey said.
"I think they have a moral and legal obligation to do so," he said.
Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 239-6606 or abreitler@recordnet.com
"
'Just dig it all up'
Livermore's plan for tainted water near weapons dump has critics
TRACY - Environmentalists want Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to dig deeper for the solution to a plume of tainted water draining from an old weapons dump nine miles southwest of Tracy.
The lab has unveiled a plan to divert rainwater around the landfill. But some critics would like to see the contaminated earth removed entirely. The soil contains radioactive residue that leaches into the groundwater, forming an underground plume of contaminated water up to 2 miles long.
"They ought to just dig it all up," said community activist Bob Sarvey, who attended a public meeting on the topic last week. "We need to get it out of there and eliminate the threat."
It's the latest debate over cleanup at Site 300, the laboratory's 11-square-mile testing range in the Altamont Hills. The lab has tested explosives there for half a century.
Experts are zeroing in on the northwest corner of Site 300, where weapons components were dumped into a series of landfills over a period of more than three decades.
Those unlined landfills, called the Pit 7 complex, are on the federal Superfund list of the nation's most-toxic cleanup sites. Chemicals such as depleted uranium and tritium - a radioactive form of hydrogen - have seeped into the water and degraded water quality, Lawrence Livermore officials say.
The lab proposes digging hillside trenches to steer rainwater away from the lower landfills. That would prevent a scenario seen in very wet years, when the rain soaks into the ground and causes the aquifer to rise into the landfill about 25 feet below ground level.
Digging up the contaminated soil would add tens of millions of dollars to the $11million-to-$15million price tag and could expose workers to unhealthy conditions, the lab says in its report. What's more, even with removal, contaminants could remain in very deep layers of rock that could not be unearthed.
The lab also plans to pump out groundwater and treat many of the chemicals. But there is no way to purify water tainted with tritium, a substance often used in the triggering mechanisms of thermonuclear weapons.
A tritium-tainted plume of water is drifting downstream at about 33 feet per year, lab hydrologist Michael Taffet said.
At the rate tritium decays, the water should be within drinking standards within 45 years, he said.
The plume is moving slowly and will not endanger Tracy's water supply or infiltrate water tables tapped by developments planned in the southwest part of the city, he said. While the cancer-causing toxin could cause some risk to workers who spend extended periods at Site 300, there is no risk to residents, Taffet said.
That doesn't satisfy Marylia Kelley, who heads the watchdog group Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment.
Her group suggests not only removing some of the dirt but also injecting clean water in front of the plume to slow it down long enough to let the tritium decay.
"If you can hold a plume in place, you should hold it in place," Kelley said. "You don't let it migrate and contaminate clean groundwater."
While weapons testing continues at Site 300, officials say they have adapted practices to prevent future contamination.
For example, since in 1988, lab workers no longer dump exploded test assemblies and other hazardous items into the pits. Four of the landfills have been capped.
But critics say the soil should have been excavated years ago, when the work would have been cheaper.
If not then, do it now, Sarvey said.
"I think they have a moral and legal obligation to do so," he said.
Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 239-6606 or abreitler@recordnet.com
"
posted by Greta Jane at Tuesday, April 11, 2006
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