[CPEO-MEF] Fallon groundwater radiation

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

(As our regular readers may recall, contamination at the Naval Air
Station in Fallon has been mentioned as a possible cause of a leukemia
cluster in that community. - LS)


REPORT SHOWS RADIOACTIVITY IN FALLON WELLS

Frank X. Mullen Jr.
Reno Gazette-Journal
April 18th, 2001


Ground water used for drinking in the Fallon area contains radioactive
minerals that exceeded federal standards in 31 of 73 wells tested in the
early 1990s, according to a federal report obtained by the Reno Gazette-Journal.

State and federal officials said they neglected to consider the U.S.
Geological Survey report in their wide-ranging investigation of a
cluster of 12 childhood leukemia cases diagnosed in Fallon since 1999.
The report has surfaced only because a former USGS director thought the
information would be important to the investigation and wondered why it
hadn’t been considered.

...

The Geological Survey report, released in 1994, showed the shallow and
intermediate ground water used for drinking water in the rural areas of
the Carson Desert contained high amounts of uranium and radioactivity. 

...

The report says the radiation is naturally occurring. The uranium in the
ground water has nothing to do with an underground atomic bomb test
conducted 28 miles from Fallon in 1960. Scientists from the Reno-based
Desert Research Institute have said that radioactive elements left in
the ground from that test don’t come anywhere near the town.

...

For the entire story, see
http://www.rgj.com/news2/stories/news/987655985.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 222B View St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/968-1126
lsiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org

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