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Testing for Depleted Uranium Started at Boeing
By Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske | June 29, 2007
Bright and early this morning, a room full of officials from the State Department of Health Services, the California Environmental Protection Agency (California Regional Water Quality Control Board), Boeing Corporation, Douglas Realty, a representative from the City of Lakewood, a representative from the City of Long Beach Health Department, my chief of staff and I, met at Boeing to be briefed on the “radiological screening and sampling” that I requested be done as a follow up to several newspapers articles raising questions about “the safety of the Douglas Park Project.”
After we were briefed regarding where the sampling would take place, the representative from the City of Lakewood and I asked why the sampling was not being scheduled on the Douglas Park site but instead over on the eastside of Lakewood Bld in Buildings 80, 84, 85 and 87 — especially when it was disclosed that the uranium had been stored on the westside. After a vigorous discussion, Boeing agreed that in fact, samplings will be done on the westside of the Boeing property which is being converted into the Douglas Park Project.
Once we received a “safety briefing” about what we needed to be alert about when entering the massive buildings (such as don’t trip..) we headed over to the corner of Lakewood Blvd and Conant where street work was being done. The State Department of Health Services requested that soil being dug at that site be tested because it was available and also between the two locations — the eastside where the depleted uranium was handled and placed into planes as counterweights and the westside where it was taken for storage.
After the first testing, we went inside Bldg 80 and watched as those taking samples from the top of the building (where dust has accumulated over the years) and the air vents where raised up in a gigantic crane. I spent some time talking with State water quality officials about my concerns about the contamination of the groundwater at the Douglas Park site, and learned that it is almost completely remediated.
The sampling will continue for the rest of today and the requested sampling at the Douglas Park site will be scheduled in the next few weeks. Results will take 3-6 weeks.
Again, I thank the Boeing Corporation for its willingness to do what it can to assure the public that this property is safe to use for purposes other than an aircraft plant.
Topics: Boeing/Douglas Park, Public Health, Water |
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