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GOVERNMENT TO TEST LAND WHERE VA DUMPED
RADIOACTIVE
WASTE -- Brentwood, California "dog park" used
as dumping
ground by VA and UCLA during Cold War.
Background here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%
20newsflashes%20MAY%2006/newsflash05-19-2006-1.htm
and here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/old%
20newsflashes%20MAY%2006/newsflash05-26-2006-4.htm
New story here...
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/
medicine/la-me-brentwood30nov30,1,4793677.story?coll=la-health-medicine
Story below.
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Dog park to be tested for radiation
A portion of the property in Brentwood was used
to dump radioactive waste. VA officials say they doubt the site is
harmful.
By Amanda Covarrubias, Times Staff Writer
Relenting to community concerns, the federal government announced this
week it will perform tests on a Brentwood dog park and nearby grounds
where Veterans Administration and UCLA researchers buried radioactive
medical waste during the Cold War.
The decision comes after environmentalists and community activists spent
years researching the activities, saying they found higher than average
levels of radiation at the park and a nearby athletic field — used by
the exclusive Brentwood School — as well as in nearby canyons and
ravines.
They believe the charred carcasses of animals used in radiation
experiments, as well as barrels of radioactive tritium and other toxic
chemicals, are underground.
Veterans Affairs officials said this week that they doubt harmful levels
of radioactivity will be found, noting the government performed tests
before the dog park and athletic fields were built.
"We want to put everyone's fears to rest and reassure everyone that
there isn't any danger," said Shana Boehm, a program analyst for the VA
in Westwood.
From 1952 to 1968, UCLA and the then-Veterans Administration used the
northwest corner of the property to dump radioactive biomedical research
waste, officials have acknowledged.
The 387-acre VA grounds along Wilshire Boulevard just west of the 405
Freeway is considered prime underdeveloped real estate and is being
studied for development by the federal government to better utilize
inefficient VA property.
Since 1985, 12 acres have been leased to the city of Los Angeles for $1
a year for the Barrington Recreation Center, and a section of the
property was made into Barrington Dog Park in 2003.
A portion of the off-leash area contains part of the former nuclear
dump.
Critics fear any future development could result in digging in and
around the dump area, unleashing toxins, unless the pollutants are found
and cleaned up.
Revelations about the dumping program came to light in the 1970s when
the nuclear watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap became aware that
the city was negotiating with the VA to convert some of the property
into a park. In 1981, after conducting its own research, the group
pointed out that some of the main radionuclides at the site included
tritium and carbon-14.
But the Nuclear Regulatory Commission dismissed those concerns and
concluded the property posed no health risks. Based on that assessment,
the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks moved forward with its plans
to build the park.
The dumping was largely forgotten until earlier this year when reporter
Michael Collins, writing for the alternative weekly Los Angeles City
Beat and EnviroReporter.com, raised new concerns about the dump area.
Collins said in the story that he used a nuclear radiation monitor and
found "shards of radioactive glass that registered over four times
normal."
In addition, a preliminary report conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers
last year for the VA offered new details on the nuclear dump, including
the revelation that radioactive medical waste and asbestos are buried 15
to 30 feet beneath areas leased to the Brentwood School for use as
athletic fields.
"Either the public was not informed as to the contaminates under the
athletic fields, or these environmental hazards did not trigger a
significant negative public reaction from nearby residents (including
parents of students using the fields)," the report stated.
Since that information became public, community activists and local
leaders have pressured the VA to further investigate what may have been
buried in the once-empty fields.
Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles) wrote to the secretary of the
Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington earlier this year,
demanding answers to questions about 10 underground storage tanks on the
property.
Specifically, Waxman asked when the tanks were last checked for leaks
and whether there are other hazardous materials at the West L.A.
veterans property.
A spokeswoman for Waxman said the department has not replied to his
questions.
In a public meeting held Monday night to inform the public about the
latest study, parents expressed concern for their children who play in
the athletic fields and pet owners for their dogs, said Michael Noel,
president of Millennium Consulting Associates, which was hired by the VA
to conduct the study.
Few complete records of what was disposed are available, partly because
extensive documentation was not required before 1970, Noel said.
"We need to get to the bottom of this and find out what was buried, when
it was buried and how much was buried," said Noel, adding that it may be
impossible to definitively answer the final question.
"The more important thing is whether what's buried there poses a risk to
the community and to the environment," he said.
This week and next, Noel will be mapping the 25 to 30 acres in question
to prepare for radiation measurements. He will have a preliminary report
by the end of January.
Next spring, survey crews will begin drilling 80 feet into the ground
for samples to test for radiation and other toxic materials.
Groundwater testing also will be done, including digging monitoring
wells to check for contaminants, he said.
Millennium Consulting will receive $78,500 for the first phase of the
study, Boehm said.
Norman Kulla, district director for City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who
represents the area, said the process will be "open and transparent,"
including allowing the public to observe Noel's fieldwork from "a safe
distance."
amanda.covarrubias@latimes.com
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Larry Scott
