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6 Nuclear sites within walking distance of California Department of Public Health Building, UC Berkeley Richmond and EPA Region 9 Lab

If the State and the Feds cannot look out for its own people how can we rely on them to protect the public?

The Califormia Department of Public Health (CDPH) regulates all of the radiological contamination in the State of California. The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Building, EPA Region 9 lab and the University of California Berkeley Richmond Campus are located right in the heart of Nuclear Alley in Richmond CA. This series will highlight 6 nuclear industry companies in the Port of Richmond that held Atomic Energy Commission Licenses for Nuclear Waste, worked directly with radioactive isotopes (radioactive elements like Uranium, Plutonium, Strontium 90, Cesium 137, Cobalt 60, Carbon 14 etc) and built machines used in the Nuclear Weapons industry.

Tracerlab/EAL building at 2030 Wright Avenue has been looted, it is a nuclear waste site and made radiological equipent for the Nuclear Industry. Google maps street view

All are within walking distance of these government facilites and they have never been cleaned up for their nuclear purposes. These government facilities need to be evacuated, because they were constructed after the contamination, which means:

  • Every surface exposed during contruction inside the walls and out will have to be swabbed to determine alpha and beta particles for identification of the isotopes as well as gamma readings for radiation.
  • All samples taken as evidence for all of Region 9 which includes, CA, OR, WA, HI, NV, the Pacific and the 148 Tribal Nations in all cases where the EPA and CDPH buildings have existed will have to be thrown out and resampled.
  • And most importantly every employee and every living being who stepped in these facilties will have to be evacuated and monitored for exposure for the rest of their lives.

Stauffer Chemical in Richmond CA processed uranium NRC records 1962
Stauffer Chemical Richmond on list of 153 Sites for the Nuclear Weapons Industry
Nuclear Fuel Rods Transported to and from the Port of Richmond CA
Tracerlab at 2030 and Berkeley Scientific at 2200 Wright Avenue Richmond CA – Nuclear Devices and testing
Tracerlab dumping Nuclear Waste At Sea, building looted in Richmond CA
Ocean Transport of Richmond dumped nuclear waste at sea – 1 of 6 Nuclear Weapons sites within walking distance of CDPH building, UC Berkeley Richmond and EPA Region 9 Lab
Chevron Richmond CA dumping nuclear waste at sea and burying on site

Also note the Navy dumped nuclear waste directly into San Francisco Bay in 1946 and they covered it up by making sure to not notify the barge operators what they were dumping. Here is that COVER UP Document and a separate set of orders for all Navy Bases on the West Coast, the Pacific and Norfolk Naval Bases.

1946-12-04 ACID AND OTHER DECONTAMINATING SOLUTIONS USED IN CLEARING SALT WATER SYSTEMS MAY BE DISCHARGED INTO HARBORS

Safety Regulations have changed over the years and all sites cleaned up in the past, those standards are nuclear accidents today. All sites need to be re-evaluated for radiological contamination.

Safety levels of nuclear radiation have changed over the years making previous cleanups are now nuclear accidents

EPA Regulations on proximity means the UCSF and UC Berkeley Ergonomics Lab is within 200 feet of the Stauffer Chemical Plant making it part of the site.

The EPA has regulations on Proximity to toxic waste sites. I went into the law in detail in this article on the contamination range of Treasure Island to San Francisco.

Downtown San Francisco within Contamination Range of Treasure Island Atomic, Biological and Chemical Warfare training sites

To the EPA everything within 200 feet of a site is on the site. In this case of UC Berkeley everything to the east of Egret Way, which is where the UC BErkeley Bus drives down to unload students is within the 200 feet fo the Stauffer Chemical Company.

Near Neighbors are everything from 200 feet to a quarter of a mile and that makes the EPA Region 9 Laboratory within that range.

A Second Near Neighbor class is everything from a quarter of a mile to a mile away and that encompases the California Department of Public Health.

Then you have ranges for water and dust contamination that can go 4 miles, so these sites are all within a mile of the California Department of Public Health and all sites are within the wind range contamination of each other and the city of Richmond.


1946 Project Crossroads Nuclear Test Film

Here is a summary of the time stamps of this video:

Project Crossroads – Nuclear Test Film (1946)
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy

1:50 USS independence next to the Nagato before Test Able
2:20 target ships mapped
4:14 The scientists and samples
6:00 Radio controlled drones
7:00 Manhattan project scientists at Kwajalein
9:40 dropping of the bomb
14:31 diffused cloud “dangerous radioactive particles in the air had become so diffused it was no longer a danger to the area.”
15:52 camera on bikini showing shock wave.
17:20 map of what ships got hit as they dropped the bomb off target. Independence noted
18:55 Independence seen just after explosion when the support ships entered the lagoon.
21:54 animals
24:31 Skate stating the inside were damaged, so they went inside it.
25:21 USS Independence
27:34 Baker Test, second test underwater explosion.
40:00 USS Independence

https://youtu.be/2HkLZekOZLU
Project Crossroads – Nuclear Test Film (1946)
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Energy

Continue reading “1946 Project Crossroads Nuclear Test Film” →

1946-09-16 SECOND REPORT INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY of Ships from Bikini at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard

Citation: OPERATION CROSSROADS, RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS Part 2 pp. 13-18

[Page 13] 
COMMANDER’S OFFICE
SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD
SAN FRANCISCO CALIFORNIA
11 September 1946

NAVAL SHIPYARD NOTICE No, 244-46

Sub: Vessels Arriving from Bikini – Instructions Governing Special Tests.
1.            The following instructions will govern relative to the special teats to be conducted by the San Francisco Naval Shipyard on ships employed in the Bikini operation:
A. Planning

1. Procure funds and originate Job Orders.
2. Follow up work procedures developed, smoothing same out, and put into such form as may be promulgated to other activities.
3. Compile all data necessary for the development of such reports as may be required from time to time.

B. Production

1. Develop work procedures in accordance with existing and subsequent instructions.2. See to it that ships have radiological, clearance when they enter yard.

C. Industrial Relations
1. In consultation With Production, disseminate instructions relative to safety precautions.

J. W. FOWLER
Commodore, USN
Commander

DJBT: CO, OH, OF, CF

SECRET

Page 13
[Page 14 posted]

REPORT NO. 2
EXPERIMENTAL WORK, SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.

SECOND REPORT 16 September 1946 – INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY of Ships from Bikini at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard starting 5 September 1946. Continue reading “1946-09-16 SECOND REPORT INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY of Ships from Bikini at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard” →

1946-09-16 Submarine Barracks at Hunters Point Shipyard contaminated by use as decontamination centers for workers at Shipyard to clean ships used in atomic tests.

Citation: OPERATION CROSSROADS, RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS Part 2 pp. 14-18

Navy Reports that document the dumping of nuclear waste directly into San Francisco Bay as well as other Navy Bases, the orders, correspondence, etc.

[Submarine Barracks at Hunters Point Shipyard now used as commercial space and was the ironically the site office of Lennar Builders were used for decontamination of shipyard workers who scraped and sandblasted the ships from the Atomic Tests. These buildings were used by the workers to clean off by showering off the plutonium and other radioactive elements and may be some of the most contaminated buildings on the site. The Hot Cell where they stored nuclear materials in lead lined chambers and maybe the storage of radioactive waste all over the shipyard may have more contamination. These are also where the workers ate their lunches while in contaminated uniforms.

Building 103 which still stands and is directly over the fence from the Artists buildings is referenced directly in this report but the decontamination centers soon expanded to all of the submarine barracks as the ranks of the personnel increased.]

Google Map

REPORT NO. 2

EXPERIMENTAL WORK, SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.

SECOND REPORT 16 September 1946 – INVESTIGATION OF RADIOACTIVITY of Ships from Bikini at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard starting 5 September 1946. Continue reading “1946-09-16 Submarine Barracks at Hunters Point Shipyard contaminated by use as decontamination centers for workers at Shipyard to clean ships used in atomic tests.” →

1946-10-01 Meeting discussing the dumping of radioactive Sand into SF Bay, Puget Sound, LA, San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Norfolk etc.

Navy Reports that document the dumping of nuclear waste directly into San Francisco Bay as well as other Navy Bases, the orders, correspondence, etc.

Citation: DTIC AD0473908: OPERATION CROSSROADS. RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS. VOLUME 3 pp. 61-73

REPORT OF CONFERENCE
San Francisco Naval Shipyard
Meeting at 1100, 1 October 1946.
Present were:
Dr. F. H. Rodenbaugh
Dr. K. 3. Scott
Capt. W. E. Walsh (MC) USN
Capt. Wynn, USN
Capt. Lemler, USN
Capt. Maxwell, USN
Lt. Comdr. Turnbaugh, USN
Lt. Comdr. Skow, USN
Lt. Chadbourn (MC) USN
Lt. (jg) Morton (MC) USN
Lt. Howell, USNR
Mr. Hammond
Mr. Gordon
Comdr. Hoffman

SECRET

Page 61
[Page 62]

SECRET

Maxwell: We called this conference together to make certain recommendations to’ BuShips on the means and methods to decontaminate salt water piping based on experiments conducted at this Yard – using ammonium citrate solution and muriatic acid solution. We found that muriatic acid removes all the foreign matter and activity. It does a complete job. The ammonium citrate does a similar job to a lesser extent – about 90% of the activity is removed. We found a medicine that can be used – it may not be the best, etc.

Dr. Scott and Dr. Rodenbaugh, are you in a position to give us a few answers that we are after – when should we use this medicine – what standard should we use – when should we use the acid and when should we use the citrate thru the salt water system?

Rodenbaugh: You mean as to how much radiation you have in the systems? You may ask me from a medical point of view, but ask Dr. Scott about the physical aspects. Continue reading “1946-10-01 Meeting discussing the dumping of radioactive Sand into SF Bay, Puget Sound, LA, San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Norfolk etc.” →

1946-12-04 ACID AND OTHER DECONTAMINATING SOLUTIONS USED IN CLEARING SALT WATER SYSTEMS MAY BE DISCHARGED INTO HARBORS

Navy Reports that document the dumping of nuclear waste directly into San Francisco Bay as well as other Navy Bases, the orders, correspondence, etc.

Citation: DTIC AD0473908: OPERATION CROSSROADS. RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS. VOLUME 3 Page 53

TO:
COMWESSEAFRON COM 11
NAVSHIPYD SAN FRAN, C0M12
NAVSHIPYD PUGET SOUND
NAVSHIPYD MARE BLAND
NAVSHIPYD TERMINAL IS
NAVSHIPYD NORFOLK, COM ’13
NAVSHIPYD PEARL, COM 14
NAVSHIPYD SANDIEGO, COM 15
ATC M KWAJ, COMMARIANAS
COMNAVPHIL
CINCPAC
COMSERVPAC CNO
032133Z NCR 1162

ON BASIS FURTHER STUDY RADIOLOGICAL HAZARDS AND CONFERENCES WITH BUMED, MANHATTAN DISTRICT, RADIOLOGICAL SAFETY ADVISOR AND UNIVCAL REPRESENTATIVES FOLLOWING DECISIONS MADE. NO HEALTH OR SECURITY HAZARDS ARE PRESENT IN FOLLOWING PROCEDURES. THESE INSTRUCTIONS SUPERSEDE PREVIOUS RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED AND WILL BE INCORPORATED IN CHANGE TO MY CONF LTR ALL/ALL CROSSROADS /C S99) (0) OF 22 NOVEMBER 1946: A SPECIAL DISPOSAL OF SAND USED IN WET SANDBLASTING UNDERWATER BODIES CROSSROADS NON TARGET VESSELS NOT REQUIRED. B. MARINE GROWTH ANTSCALE REMOVED FROM VESSELS AT FIRST DRYDOCKING SHALL BE SEGREGATED AND SUNK AT SEA AS PREVIOUSLY PRESCRIBED. Continue reading “1946-12-04 ACID AND OTHER DECONTAMINATING SOLUTIONS USED IN CLEARING SALT WATER SYSTEMS MAY BE DISCHARGED INTO HARBORS” →

1946-09-04 CINPAC ORDERS Disposal of Target Vessels hit by two Atomic Bombs in Operation Crossroads

Navy Reports that document the dumping of nuclear waste directly into San Francisco Bay as well as other Navy Bases, the orders, correspondence, etc.

Citation: DTIC AD0473908: OPERATION CROSSROADS. RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS. VOLUME 3 pp 14-15
Citation: https://archive.org/download/DTIC_AD0473908/DTIC_AD0473908.pdf

FROM: CINCPAC TO: ALPAC 238
INFO: CNO
4 SEPT 46 BUSHIPS
COM 11/COMWESSEAFRON
COM 12/CJTF-l
COMDR ALL NAV TG JTF-1
COM 13/ COM 14

032333Z NCR 9560

ALL VESSELS AND SMALL BOATS INCLUDING SMALL LANDING CRAFT WHICH HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION AS A RESULT OF CROSSROADS WILL BE TREATED AS FOLLOWS UNTIL DEFINITELY PROVEN SAFE BY MONITOR GROUPS TO BE ESTABLISHED AT SAN FRANCISCO, KWAJALEIN, GUAM AND UNTIL DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS ARE PROMULGATED BY CJTF-1. Continue reading “1946-09-04 CINPAC ORDERS Disposal of Target Vessels hit by two Atomic Bombs in Operation Crossroads” →

OPERATION CROSSROADS, RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS Part I

Navy Reports that document the dumping of nuclear waste directly into San Francisco Bay as well as other Navy Bases, the orders, correspondence, etc.

Introductory statements to the Report

OPERATION CROSSROADS, RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS Part I pp 3-17
https://archive.org/download/DTIC_AD0473906/DTIC_AD0473906.pdf

[Note all page numbers and notes will be enclosed in these brackets]

[It is important to note that the safe radiation levels at the time did not put into consideration the cancer hazard and all they were concerned about is preventing radiation sickness. All of the sailors involved in this operation were later compensated with a settlement from the United States after Congressional Hearings in the Clinton Administration, the ones still alive of course.]

PART I

DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET VESSELS

1. As a result of Test Able on 1 July, no extensive deposit of long life radioactive fission products or alpha emitters was found on the target vessels. Radioactivity existing was induced type and was of very short half-life. Within a period of twenty four hours after fission of the bomb the level of radioactivity permitted reoccupation of surviving targets, with the exception of concrete barge YO-160, without radiological hazard. Consequently no decontamination of target vessels was required. Continue reading “OPERATION CROSSROADS, RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS Part I” →

LittleSis Map database showing the interconnections of politicians in SF with land developers

LittleSis Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island Development
LittleSIS is a mapping tool and database that connects politicians and their relatives to their donors and relatives. Handy tool for navigating politics and land development.

“Lennar acquires decommissioned military bases in California.

Nancy Pelosi’s nephew Laurence Pelosi was the manager of acquisitions for Lennar when they were granted the agreements to build on California’s decommissioned  military bases.”

The Navy Nuked Itself in Operation Crossroads Baker Test

Operation Crossroads (1946) was two atomic bomb tests where the second one was exploded under water creating a radioactive steam cloud that spread over all of the ships, including the support ships thus irradiating about 80% of the US Pacific Fleet at the time. The Navy had set up a set of Target Ships including the Saratoga and Independence Aircraft Carriers to see what effect a nuclear explosion would have on the ships. The explosion irradiated the water in the lagoon the equivalent of 5000 tons of radium.

Unfortunately they miscalculated and thus irradiated all of the ships present which had to be cleaned immediately to be put back in action. Thus the ships had to go to US Ports and be cleaned by sandblasting and the Navy decided to dump the contaminated sandblast sands directly into the harbors of the Navy Bases. 145 out of 207 ships were sent to be decontaminated, the others were scuttled. Airplanes were sent to their respective bases to be washed down.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The Navy entered the Lagoon with the support ships but had to retreat when the radiation levels exceeded the fatal level and the ships ran out, some went out to sea to escape. One hour after the blast the Battleship “New York” had a reading of 1200 r/hr which is 3 times the fatal dose. Here is a video of the scene, showing the support ships wash down the decks of the target ships like it was a carwash, the sailors completely unaware of the danger of a nuclear blast. https://youtu.be/BKH437o14vA

145 out of 207 ships were sent to be decontaminated, the others were scuttled. There were also airplanes that were affected and they had to return to their bases to be decontaminated. The ships were sent to the following ports to be cleaned:

  • Bremerton and Puget Sound
  • Guam/Marianas
  • Hunters Point Shipyard – San Francisco
  • Kwajalein
  • Mare Island
  • New Orleans
  • Norfolk
  • Los Angeles
  • Pearl Harbor
  • San Diego
  • San Pedro
  • Terminal Island
  • The Caroline Islands
  • The Philippines
  • Treasure Island – San Francisco

The ships had to be sandblasted to remove the paint in order to clean the ships. Because the non target ships used their pumps and hoses to clean the other ships or operated inside the lagoon, their water lines, pumps and evaporators (used to produce clean water) were contaminated and in most cases they could clean them with acid which was also dumped directly into these harbors. At the time the Navy was only concerned with the effects of the acids dumped into the harbors and they really didn’t care about dumping radiation into the water where civilians fish. One thing they found out fast was that copper piping tends to hold the radiation directly in the copper and so those systems had to be scrapped and all the copper piping had to be replaced.

In 1989 the EPA put out a report on the cleanup of Mare Island, Alameda Air station and Hunters Point and they state that they used samples that dug in 4 inches deep to determine radiation. They cleared all of these bases for nuclear radiation. Problem is that in order to fool a geiger counter all you need is a few feet of dirt. You can cover it up all you want, the radiation is still there. Also to test for Alpha and Beta Particles you have drill down and bring up a core of the materials which are them chemically separated to isolate the radioactive elements and then determine the radioactivity based on the contents, not a geiger counter.

Here is the official video of the project: https://archive.org/details/MISC1323OperationCrossroads1948
No description at the National Archives. Castle Films produced this film for the U.S. military — “Operation Crossroads” US Army film # MISC-1323 and US Navy film # MN 5345. Description from Armed Forces Films for Public and Television Use: “A documentary of the Able and Baker blasts of the Atomic Bomb Test at Bikini, produced by Joint Army-Navy Task Force One.”
National Archives Identifier: 88210 source file isn’t in the greatest shape.

Video detailing the Nuclear safety at the blast. Notice the officers checking the status of their geiger counters using a radiation source. Similar sources were found buried at San Francisco’s Treasure Island thus causing the site to become an EPA Superfund Nuclear Radiation Site.

Video link and information from Internet Archive. Uploaded by Periscope Films: https://archive.org/details/73862RadiologicalSafety