DOE TO SAMPLE SOILS AT 25 MORE SANTA SUSANA LAB SITES.Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer The Department of Energy said Tuesday night that it intends to sample for radioactivity radioactivity, spontaneous disintegration or decay of the nucleus of an atom by emission of particles, usually accompanied by electromagnetic radiation. The energy produced by radioactivity has important military and industrial applications. at 25 more former building sites at the Santa Susana Santa Susana can refer to several places:
The federal agency and the lab owner, the Boeing Co., presented the results of their historical site assessment, which revisits the entire former nuclear research area and considers whether individual areas meet DOE's cleanup standard or whether more radiation surveys are needed. The full site assessment is expected to be released in late April. It will include short reports on all buildings and facilities that were used in the former Energy Technology Engineering Center. ``The bottom line is, we're making a decision to do additional soil sampling,'' said Mike Lopez, DOE project manager. But lab watchdogs are skeptical of the report. ``Why should anyone believe a single word of the polluter, who asks himself if he polluted pol·lute tr.v. pol·lut·ed, pol·lut·ing, pol·lutes 1. To make unfit for or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter. See Synonyms at contaminate. 2. and then answers he didn't?'' said Dan Hirsch, with the Committee to Bridge the Gap. ETEC ETEC enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. ETEC Enterotoxic Escherichia coli, see there is a 90-acre section of the field lab where the government conducted nuclear research from the 1950s to 1988. It was home to 10 nuclear reactors, one of which experienced a partial meltdown meltdown Occurrence in which a huge amount of thermal energy and radiation is released as a result of an uncontrolled chain reaction in a nuclear power reactor. The chain reaction that occurs in the reactor's core must be carefully regulated by control rods, which absorb , and an open-air burn pit where workers burned radioactive and chemical waste. The DOE and Boeing have been decontaminating the site, however neighbors and environmental groups have sued, saying the cleanup plan would leave too much radiation at the site. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and said the DOE plan would leave the site unsafe for even casual picnicking. As part of the site assessment, the DOE and Boeing looked at 272 former building sites. Some 175 were never used for radiological radiological pertaining to radiology. radiological diagnosis see radiological diagnosis. mobile radiological apparatus x-ray machines that can be moved but are not portable because of their weight. activity, and were released without further study. Some 95 sites had radiological activity, of which 70 were studied and released, and 25 more sites require sampling. Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com |
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