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Risks found at Sylvania site: Army Corps study contradicts what the state and Verizon have said about threat to the public health(Newsday (Melville, NY) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Mar. 29--Radiological and chemical contaminants at the former Sylvania nuclear products facility in Hicksville could pose health and environmental risks to those at or near the site, according to a study by the Army Corps of Engineers, which concluded further study is needed. The report, dated May 2005 but not released to the public until this week, appears to contradict prior assurances by state agencies and the site's current owner that the site posed no health risks "whatsoever." "Although data gaps limit assessment of exposures, a potential exists for exposure to current and future occupants of the site and persons off-site to site contaminants," the report said. "Completion of ground-water, soil and/or air exposure pathways could present a hazard to human health and the environment." But a state Health Department spokeswoman took issue with the conclusion. "The public is not being exposed to site-related contaminants in soil or soil vapor from the Hicksville Sylvania Site," said spokeswoman Claire Pospisil. "This is based on information about soil contamination and from [a] soil vapor intrusion investigation conducted in 2005. The characterization from the 2-year-old report...is based on older data." State investigators are continuing to probe deep underground contamination at the site, which may have contributed to recent chlorinated solvent contamination at two Hicksville public water supply wells, the Health Department said. The water is monitored and treated and, Pospisil said, "Right now, health risks from the site are not expected." Jim Moore, a project manager at the Army Corps, said it was his understanding that much of the potential exposure mentioned in his agency's report "is related to groundwater." He said golfers practicing at the nearby Cantiague Park driving range, for instance, likely were not in danger. "Obviously, if there was an immediate health risk we'd take action," he said. Asked if people who worked at buildings on site, including as recently as 2005, may have been exposed to hazardous material, Moore said, "That's a question I can't answer." Last week, Newsday reported that a former worker at a facility at the site contracted an extremely rare form of cancer that a workers' compensation judge ruled was related to radiological exposure at his workplace. Yesterday, about 50 workers from that company, Magazine Distributors Inc., met with an attorney to discuss findings in the case. The attorney, Troy Rosasco of Hauppauge, said 10 of the workers reported thyroid problems, an affliction common to radiological exposure. One of them, Mike Coakley, 42, of Farmingdale, said he was diagnosed with hyperthyroid two years ago and requires medication for the rest of his life. A co-worker, Robert Matteo of Lindenhurst, said he believes all people who worked at facilities near the site should be tested. "We have a right as employees to work in a safe environment," he said. Rosasco said he requested copies of the Army Corps report as recently as two months ago. "They said, 'No. It's preliminary. We're not ready." An Army Corps spokeswoman said copies had been released only to the DEC and Verizon Communications, the current owner of the site. From 1952 to 1967, the Sylvania site processed uranium and thorium for use in fuel rods for nuclear power plants. In addition to dumping toxic solvents mixed with uranium into the ground, the plant also incinerated large amounts of uranium shavings into the open air. Samples taken at sumps at the site in the 1990s had uranium concentrations 3,000 to 25,000 times greater than that which occurs naturally, documents show. An underground tank unearthed at the site in the most recent cleanup had 875 gallons of liquid sludge, some of which contained uranium at concentrations of 77,000 parts per million. Daniel Strom, an expert in radiological science at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said normally occurring uranium levels in soil are from 1 to 20 parts per million. The site has been the subject of varying levels of scrutiny, oversight and cleanup since its decommissioning in 1967. It underwent a partial remediation by Verizon beginning in 2003, but the work addressed "relatively readily accessible" contamination, the Army Corps said in its report. "Not all contamination was removed from remediation areas due to various construction and engineering limitations." About 56,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil was bagged and taken to a nuclear waste site in Utah. The report concluded that additional investigation is required to determine just how much more of a cleanup is needed and how it will be paid for. Verizon has recorded an environmental remediation expense of $240 million for the work, which is not finished. Verizon said it "continues to believe that the site does not pose a current health concern." In addition, Verizon spokesman John Bonomo pointed to a paragraph in the report saying "the possibility exists that further migration of the contaminants... could occur," as more representative of the study's conclusions. That paragraph concludes, "This migration may occur due to groundwater movement and/or the completion of groundwater, soil or air exposure pathways, and may present a hazard to human health and the environment in the future." It's still not fully known how deep the contamination goes under buildings on site, and whether there is a potential for exposure inside the buildings. "The data that are available, however, indicate that contamination remains in these areas," the Army Corps report said. "Completion of the soil and air pathway by such activities as removal of structures or other construction activities at the site is possible. This presents a potential for a hazard to human health and the environment." In the past, officials from the departments of Health and Environmental Conservation have said there were no health risks posed by the site. On Tuesday, DEC spokeswoman Maureen Wren declined to characterize health risks at the site, saying they were the Health Department's purview. But she noted that "pavement and structures on site do help prevent individuals from coming into contact with the contamination and other potentially harmful materials. Also, it is my understanding that the buildings on site are no longer in use." Wren added, "Additional DEC investigation of groundwater at the site is ongoing to determine the full extent of the environmental and health impacts that the contamination may have caused." Copyright (c) 2007, Newsday, Melville, N.Y. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |