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” →

1946-09-05 – Report of INSPECTION FOR RADIOACTIVITY of the USS LAFFEY (DD724) at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard

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: OPERATION CROSSROADS, RADIOLOGICAL DECONTAMINATION OF TARGET AND NON- TARGET VESSELS Part 2 pp. 5-7

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

[Page5]

REPORT. H.Q, 1

EXPERIMENTAL WORK, SAN FRANCISCO NAVAL SHIPYARD SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.

Report of INSPECTION FOR RADIOACTIVITY of the USS LAFFEY (DD724) at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, 5 September 1946

The USS LAFFEY DD724 was subjected to an inspection for radioactivity on 5 September 1946 at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard. The inspection, witnessed by representatives of the 12th Naval District and the Western Sea Frontier, was conducted under the supervision of Captain W. E. Walsh (MC) USN. Other members-of the inspecting party were: Continue reading “1946-09-05 – Report of INSPECTION FOR RADIOACTIVITY of the USS LAFFEY (DD724) at the San Francisco Naval Shipyard” →

Camp Parks, Dublin CA – Cobalt 60 Experiments

Camp Parks which is located next to Dublin California is where the US Navy built a railway track to move a device using Cobalt 60 to irradiate Phantom Sheep. This is part of a series of articles where I will demonstrate the use of radiation at various locations in the San Francisco Area to inform the public of just what they were and still are being exposed to on a daily basis.

Google map of the base

Camp Parks is currently under development for housing projects and the The Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin was built directly on top of various radioactive sites. Continue reading “Camp Parks, Dublin CA – Cobalt 60 Experiments” →

Hercules CA – Housing built on the TNT plant, not to be confused with the Housing Development on the Dynamite plant next door.

STATE OF CALIFORNIA, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES; In the matter of:
Hercules Incorporated site, San Pablo Avenue,Hercules, California, DOCKET NO. HSA 87/88-050; REMEDIAL ACTION ORDER, Health Safety Code, sections 25355.5, 205, 206 p.18

Google Map
Google map image of the wetland, street view

441 acres of Hercules California is contaminated with Explosives 41 acres of that area were contaminated with TNT and DNT, the rest with Dynamite and Black Powder. The site blew up in 1929 but was rebuilt and continued operations to 1960. The plant was the largest manufacturer of high explosives for World War I used by the Allies in the war. It was the largest source in the world at the time and it was used in World War II.

Munitions plants built bunkers underground to store their production and if there was an explosion the direction of the force would be up instead of spreading across the ground as it did in the Berkeley Explosion which wiped out the glass of San Francisco 8 miles away. But when the EPA came along and cleaned up the site, they only excavated 24 inches down and deemed the site safe enough to build housing on the site which is what we have today. What if this site had the bunkers? Has anyone checked to see if the contamination goes further into the soil?

The same can be said for the explosives factories on what became Golden Gate Park in san Francisco. Are there buried munitions at those sites? Continue reading “Hercules CA – Housing built on the TNT plant, not to be confused with the Housing Development on the Dynamite plant next door.” →

The Berkeley Blast – 500 tons of Dynamite that blasted out the glass of San Francisco 8 miles away

“A witness near the California Powder Works reported seeing a huge column of white smoke shoot hundreds of feet into the sky seconds before he was knocked down and rendered senseless for several minutes.”

The disaster in Beirut was only a few days ago.

1869 Alfred Noble patented his invention Dynamite which is a safe method of using Nitroglycerin which had an unfortunate tendency to explode when subjected to a large shock. Dynamite made it relatively safe. The California Powerworks had the patent and started manufacturing Dynamite in Santa Cruz and in San Francisco on or near what became Golden Gate Park. There was another plant called the Hercules plant (Hercules in Greek Lore killed Giants) and so they operated facilities near each other which had a tendency to explode.

Explosions were common in munitions plants and after the second blast in San Francisco on or near Golden Gate Park that blew out the glass from downtown San Francisco to Cliff House, the city fathers decided that instead of replacing the glass in the buildings of San Francisco every time one of these things lit up, they would send the plants to Berkeley across the Bay to what is now Albany California at the Polo Grounds. The plant blew up three times and rebuilt each time until the big blast.

The following is the official record of the incident. Holden, Edward S. “Powder Explosion at West Berkeley, July 9, 1892.” Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 4, no. 25 (1892): 187-90. Accessed August 8, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40667068.

“”The Giant Powder Works plant, near West Berkeley, a suburban place on the northeastern coast of the bay, about eight miles from San Francisco, was blown up at nine o’clock A. M. on the ninth of July, and it is believed to be the most extensive explosion of the kind that has ever happened. Being situated on a spit of land projecting out into the bay there was a free course for air disturbance to the city, and other surroundings on the southern and western side of the bay, and windows were crushed for a distance of ten miles where no elevated land intervened.
The air disturbance followed channels where the physical formation permitted horizontal flow, and even streets in the city seemed to have guided the lines of greatest effect. Continue reading “The Berkeley Blast – 500 tons of Dynamite that blasted out the glass of San Francisco 8 miles away” →

Benicia CA – TOURTELOT PROPERTY (48970005) Housing on unexploded shells on Gunnery range

What happens when you build a housing development and then 6 years later you find unexploded artillery shells on the property? Perhaps it might have been a clue that the property was once called the Benicia Arsenal and that during World War II it was an artillery range?

Site History

Prior to 1990, the Tourtelot Property consisted of approximately 220 acres of undeveloped grassland situated in the northwest corner of the former Benicia Arsenal. The Army leased the Tourtelot Property from 1944 to 1960 for artillery testing, ordnance and explosives (OE) demilitarization, and demolition of damaged and obsolete munitions. In 1990, Granite Management Corporation (Granite) began grading the site for home construction. In 1996, Granite found concrete-filled howitzer shells and live ordnance on the site. Granite then retained the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to characterize the site for OE and chemical impacts to soil and groundwater. Contaminants on the Tourtelot Property included: petroleum hydrocarbons; polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons; dioxins/furans (combustion by-products); volatile organic compounds; trinitrotoluene; and OE. Continue reading “Benicia CA – TOURTELOT PROPERTY (48970005) Housing on unexploded shells on Gunnery range” →

Newark CA – OHLONE COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT SITE (01010013)

Site History

The property is owned by the Ohlone Community College District and is located southeast of the intersection of Mowry Avenue and Cherry Street in Newark, Alameda County, California. The Site is southeast of the George M. Silliman Recreation Complex, south of an Agilent Tech facility and Cherry Street, west of a drainage channel and north of an existing railroad line. A High School is located to the north across Cherry Street. The site has been used for agriculture since at least 1969. The Ohlone Community College District has consolidated soil containing pesticides above residential cleanup goals from the northern 31-acres of the Site into a 25-acre consolidation area within the southern 50 acres of the Site. The northern portion of the Site that was cleaned up to residential standards has been developed into a community college. The southern parcel with remain in agricultural use.

Envirostor (State of California)

Google Map

Envirostor (State of California) Deed Restriction Page

SITE MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS

DAY CARE CENTER PROHIBITED
ELDER CARE CENTER PROHIBITED
HOSPITAL USE PROHIBITED
LAND USE COVENANT
NO EXCAVATION OF CONTAMINATED SOILS WITHOUT AGENCY REVIEW AND APPROVAL
NOTIFY PRIOR TO SUBSURFACE WORK
PUBLIC OR PRIVATE SCHOOL FOR PERSONS UNDER 21 PROHIBITED
RESIDENCE USE PROHIBITED

POTENTIAL CONTAMINANTS OF CONCERN

TOXAPHENE
DDE (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene)

Envirostor disclaimer

 

Fremont – PERALTA CROSSING (60002284)

Site History

The Property consists of a 2.3 acre lot that is being redeveloped as multi-family residences. Soil gas at the Site has been impacted by former dry cleaning operations (Henry Miller Cleaners, Marshall Steel Cleaners, and Payless Cleaners) that used volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including the dry cleaning solvent tetrachloroethylene (PCE or perc) in its cleaning processes. The dry cleaning businesses occupied the southern portion of the onsite building and operated between approximately 1965 and 1990. Continue reading “Fremont – PERALTA CROSSING (60002284)” →

Emeryville CA – IKEA (FORMER BARBARY COAST) (01440005)

Site History

The Barbary Coast Steel operated a steel manufacturing plant on this site from 1987 to 1991. Judson Steel was a previous owner since 1882. The primary use of the site was storing and melting scrap iron to produce reinforcing bars. IKEA purchased the property and signed Prospective Purchasers Agreement (PPA) with DTSC for future site development. As part of future development IKEA upgraded the cap. The IKEA store opened for business in May 2000. Continue reading “Emeryville CA – IKEA (FORMER BARBARY COAST) (01440005)” →

Emeryville CA – Bike Path is a toxic waste site – CYPRESS FREEWAY/BIKEWAY PROJECT (01410119)

Site History

The Site is the proposed location of a bikeway connecting Maritime Street in Oakland and Shellmound Street in Emeryville. The proposed area was historically used for industrial, commercial or vehicle transportation corridors.

Cypress Freeway/Bikeway Project, Land Use Covenant and Agreement, 03/03/2016 Official Records of Alameda County, p 16

Envirostor (State of California)

Google Map

Deed Restriction / Land Use Covenant:

SITE MANAGEMENT REQUIREMENTS:

(a) A residence, including any mobile home or factory built housing,
constructed or installed for use as residential human habitation.
(b) A hospital for humans.
(c) A public or private School for persons under 18 years old.
(d) A day care center for children

POTENTIAL CONTAMINANTS OF CONCERN

Hazardous substances, including arsenic at 0.39 ppm, mercury at 2.1 ppm, lead at 190 ppm, and
total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHd) at 1,100 ppm remain at the Property above levels
acceptable for unrestricted land use.

Note this was cleaned up to this standard which is fine for industrial use.

Envirostor disclaimer