United States Environmental Protection Agency
Region VI
POLLUTION REPORT

Subject: 

The Site is an abandoned radioactive material laboratory located in a medical complex in the City of Webster.  Over 260 sealed sources have been recovered to date.  There are dozens of glove-boxes and hotcells in the 43 rooms and laboratories of the facility.  Hundreds of other instruments, tools, and other items contaminated in the 5 conjoined buildings making up the Site.  

Floors within the facility are highly contaminated
and instruments read over 200,000,000 disintergrations per minute at the surface.

Gamma radiation emitted from the site is high enough to register inside the adjacent medical clinic.

Crews are removing debris from the building, recovering the sealed sources from the boxes, vaults, and cabinetry.  The contaminated items are being separated and packaged accordingly.

Radioactive waste is being shipped for disposal.  Other radioactive waste streams are being finalized with the disposal companies.

Perimeter air monitoring and sampling are being conducted to insure that no migration of contamination is occurring.  The results indicated that the engineering controls to reduce the migration are very effective.

Proposals are being sought from companies to decontaminate and reduce the waste volume of the GTCC waste.

The clearing of the contents of the buildings will continue and proceed to the demolition of the buildings.  Some minor excavation of soils is expected.

Contamination of the some of the boxes, air filters, duct work, and other items are contaminated beyond what can be disposed of at any commercial site.  The "greater than class C" (GTCC) waste, as defined by 10 CFR Part 61.55, must be disposed of at a non-near-surface facility and no such commercial facility yet exists.