“Had someone got hold of one of the metal disks and put it in his pocket for a few days,” Brenner said, “the outcome could have been very bad - significant radiation sickness or even death within a few weeks.” According to the Navy, these octagonal disks emit contact radiation dose rates of up to 10 rem/hr, but more typically 0.1 to 0.7 rem/hr. He noted the high toxicity of radioactive disks that have been found all over Treasure Island. Shaw Environmental, the Navy’s lead private contractor, has received a Notice of Violation from the California Department of Public Health for its failure to properly collect and record this data.ĭavid Brenner, director of Columbia University’s Center for Radiological Research, reviewed the Navy’s Radiation Protection Plan, which was prepared by Shaw Environmental. For example, very little information has been publicly released on the eight hundred-plus truckloads of radiologically contaminated soil that were shipped off the island in recent years. “If there was a high concentration of radionuclides in the dirt, and people were inhaling or ingesting it,” Fetter said, “that would be very hazardous.”ĭespite the newly released data, much is still unknown about the radiation levels on Treasure Island. For some perspective, closed military installations in California that had been contaminated with radioactive elements typically must be cleaned to a standard of two picocuries per gram in order to be considered safe. The data also raises questions as to whether the island’s soil can be cleaned up.Ī 2009 Navy document called the Radiation Protection Plan also revealed troubling data on the concentration of radionuclides in the soil: readings of “up to 9,000 picocuries per gram” were taken on the island, but were limited to certain hotspots.But the dose rate would drop off pretty quickly as you moved away - unless there were other nearby objects also emitting radiation.” (Rem/hr is a measurement, known as a dose rate, of the biological effects of being exposed to radiation.) “If you were standing above that spot for a long time, it would be hazardous. “That’s a surprisingly high measurement,” said physicist Steve Fetter of the University of Maryland School of Public Health in response to the Navy’s disclosure of the highest yet surface radiation reading measured on the island - 0.08 rem/hr. The data, which the Express obtained as a result of a public records request, also raises questions as to whether former residents were, in fact, exposed to high amounts of radiation and whether soil on the island can be sufficiently cleaned up for the massive “eco-friendly” housing and commercial development planned for the former Navy base. But data from the US Navy shows that measurements taken in former residential areas of the island revealed pockets of alarmingly high radiation levels. Navy officials have repeatedly downplayed the risks of radiation exposure to current and former residents on Treasure Island.

Radiation island ipa