New York Daily News - City News - Radioactive 'hot spots' threat to city, study sez
New York Daily News - City News - Radioactive 'hot spots' threat to city, study sez: "city, study sez
BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - A helicopter survey revealed 80 radioactive "hot spots" in New York City, including a Staten Island park with dangerously high levels of radium, a congressional report disclosed yesterday.
The park, built on a former industrial site, had to be closed as a result of radium detected there, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
The GAO did not identify the park, but Brian Feeney of the National Park Service said a 1-acre section of Great Kills Park on Staten Island, part of Gateway National Recreation Area, had been shut down in August 2005 after federal officials discovered old industrial equipment contaminated with radiation.
He said the area was a dense section of marsh grass that was not frequented by visitors and was blocked off merely as a precaution.
Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island) said area residents shouldn't panic, but he stressed the need for more information.
"It is essential for the government to act immediately to fully understand the extent of the contamination," Fossella said.
The GAO report said there were a total of "80 locations with radiological sources that required further investigation to determine their risk."
The locations were discovered during a 2005 helicopter sweep by the Department of Energy, paid for by the city with an $800,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security, to map every radioactive site in the city.
City officials hope that in the event of a radioactive "dirty bomb" attack, they could quickly identify affected areas by comparing new hot spots with those previously identified on the "radiation map" of the five boroughs.
The new hot spots would be detected by choppers outfitted with radiationsniffing gear.
New York is the only U.S. city to have had an aerial radiation survey conducted. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said yesterday the Bush administration was dropping the ball by not funding similar checks for other cities.
"This is a program that could save lives ... but is instead being shrugged at by the very people who are charged with protecting us," Schumer said.
But officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration - which hunts for terror weapons within the U.S. - said in a letter to the GAO that helicopter surveys to detect "low-intensity" sites are unreliable.
That means there could be hundreds more radioactive sites in New York besides the 80 identified already.
With Greg Smith
Originally published on September 22, 2006"
BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - A helicopter survey revealed 80 radioactive "hot spots" in New York City, including a Staten Island park with dangerously high levels of radium, a congressional report disclosed yesterday.
The park, built on a former industrial site, had to be closed as a result of radium detected there, according to the report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
The GAO did not identify the park, but Brian Feeney of the National Park Service said a 1-acre section of Great Kills Park on Staten Island, part of Gateway National Recreation Area, had been shut down in August 2005 after federal officials discovered old industrial equipment contaminated with radiation.
He said the area was a dense section of marsh grass that was not frequented by visitors and was blocked off merely as a precaution.
Rep. Vito Fossella (R-Staten Island) said area residents shouldn't panic, but he stressed the need for more information.
"It is essential for the government to act immediately to fully understand the extent of the contamination," Fossella said.
The GAO report said there were a total of "80 locations with radiological sources that required further investigation to determine their risk."
The locations were discovered during a 2005 helicopter sweep by the Department of Energy, paid for by the city with an $800,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security, to map every radioactive site in the city.
City officials hope that in the event of a radioactive "dirty bomb" attack, they could quickly identify affected areas by comparing new hot spots with those previously identified on the "radiation map" of the five boroughs.
The new hot spots would be detected by choppers outfitted with radiationsniffing gear.
New York is the only U.S. city to have had an aerial radiation survey conducted. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said yesterday the Bush administration was dropping the ball by not funding similar checks for other cities.
"This is a program that could save lives ... but is instead being shrugged at by the very people who are charged with protecting us," Schumer said.
But officials from the National Nuclear Security Administration - which hunts for terror weapons within the U.S. - said in a letter to the GAO that helicopter surveys to detect "low-intensity" sites are unreliable.
That means there could be hundreds more radioactive sites in New York besides the 80 identified already.
With Greg Smith
Originally published on September 22, 2006"
posted by Greta Jane at Sunday, September 24, 2006
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