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Radioactive plume detected near former LA nuclear research site
Associated Press, September 10, 2004

A radioactive plume has been detected in two new test wells at the Santa Susana Field Lab, a former nuclear research facility, officials said.

High levels of radioactive tritium were detected in the test wells drilled by the U.S. Department of Energy after discovering tritium earlier this year in the groundwater at the northern edge of the research site in the Simi Hills.

The agency now plans to drill additional wells to determine the source of the plume, its size, and the speed and direction of its movement.

"The reactor was in operation 40 years ago and the plume still appears close to the source. It hasn't moved off site," said Majelle Lee, project manager with Boeing Co., which owns the lab.

Officials said Thursday that the tainted groundwater is not used for drinking and does not pose a health risk to the public or neighbors.

The DOE is ending its 15-year-long cleanup of the former nuclear laboratory. The agency has been investigating a handful of sites where tritium may have been released, based on 40-year-old records detailing how radioactive materials were handled.

A groundwater sample taken in March from a test well drilled next to the site of an experimental reactor found tritium at 80,000 picocuries per liter - or four times the drinking-water standard.

Tritium has not yet been detected in a cluster of monitoring wells located downhill from the site but residents wonder if the reports have been accurate.

"The question is what got off the site and what else was released from the site," said Dan Hirsch, president of Committee to Bridge the Gap, a nuclear-watchdog group.

Federal officials said they plan to conduct more groundwater testing later this year.

Tritium, a byproduct of a nuclear reaction, has been found at the lab before, but never at such high levels.

In 1991, it was detected at 5,400 picocuries per liter on nearby property owned by the Brandeis Bardin Institute, which runs a Jewish camp and educational facility. Other chemicals were found in soil samples two years later taken from the camp along the property line with Rocketdyne , which operated a nuclear reactor.

The federal government funded nuclear research at the lab, which was run by Rocketdyne , now a division of Boeing, from the 1950s through the 1980s.

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