In the News
Investigation of Potential Historical Disposal of Radioactive Waste at the Albany Shoreline
Summary: At the request of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the City of Albany has completed an investigation of potential historic disposal of radioactive waste at the Albany Bulb, including a gamma radiation survey of the site. Released in November 2024, the results of the radiation survey determined that radiation levels are not at a level of concern for people using the area recreationally.
In January of 2024 the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (Water Board) requested that the City of Albany investigate whether industrial waste materials containing alum mud were historically accepted at the former Albany landfill site on the Albany waterfront, including at the Albany Bulb.
The Water Board had recently received historical documents indicating that waste materials containing alum mud may have been deposited at the Albany Landfill by the Stauffer Chemical Company, between 1960-71. Alum mud is a waste product generated from the processing of aluminium from bauxite ore. The primary waste constituents in alum mud include heavy metals and trace metals including iron, manganese, magnesium, zinc, cadmium, copper, trivalent chromium, and lead. Alum mud also typically contains certain radionuclides that are naturally present in bauxite. During aluminum processing, these radionuclides become concentrated and are known as “technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material” or TENORM.
The City of Albany submitted a plan for initial testing to the Water Board in April 2024 and that plan was subsequently approved.
The City of Albany’s website about the Bulb includes the letter the city received from the Water Board requesting investigation, and the plan for testing that the city submitted to the Water Board for approval. (These documents can also be found on the Water Board’s data management system, GeoTracker -- click on ‘Site Maps/Documents’ to find the list of documents).
These related news articles were published in May 2024:
Berkeleyside article - “Radioactive waste at Cesar Chavez Park? Berkeley to test former landfill site”
LA Times article - “Revelations of possible radioactive dumping around the Bay Area trigger new testing at parks”
A historical review, and initial testing for gamma radiation was completed in June 2024 by GSI Environmental (GSI), an engineering and environmental consulting firm. Their results were posted to the Water Board’s data management site (GeoTracker). The survey report can be found directly here.
Based on the findings of their historical review, the consultants believe that “it is unlikely that Stauffer waste was disposed of at the subject Site, and that any potential Stauffer waste disposal at the former Albany Landfill was more likely to have occurred on the privately owned, Santa Fe Land Improvement Company portion of the landfill”. This is the portion of the Albany Waterfront that is now owned and managed by the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD). This area, known as the Plateau, includes the fenced-in burrowing owl habitat.
GSI contracted with Cabrera Services Inc. (Cabrera) to conduct a Gamma Walk-Over Survey (GWS) to evaluate surface radiological conditions at the Bulb. The survey revealed the results “were consistent with levels of natural occurring radioactivity associated with soils and construction debris”.
The GSI report also states that Cabrera identified “10 locations from the GWS that had statistically higher gamma count rate measurements, but noted that the results of the GWS were generally consistent with what might be expected at a landfill that contains soils and construction debris. Of these ten locations identified, only three of the locations were considered potentially consistent with the disposal of Alum Mud (under the three determination criteria described in Section 4.2). Cabrera recommended that these three locations be included as part of any future investigation.” The City of Albany plans to follow the recommendation to perform additional testing at these three locations.
When these results were reported, the City of Albany communicated to Love the Bulb that according to the consultants who carried out the study, these initial findings have not indicated any major concerns or any direct risks to public health and safety at this time. The City also communicated this to the City Council at their December 2, 2024 meeting.
To help us better understand the risk, these two comparisons have been made: The California Department of Public Health said that a person would need to stand on one of the locations with elevated measurements for 20 hours to be exposed to the same level of radiation from a single dental x-ray. Additionally Kai Vetter, a nuclear physicist, told the Bay Area News Group that a person would have to stand in one of the spots for 100 hours to get the same level of radiation exposure as one cross-country flight.
These related news articles were published in December 2024:
LA Times article - “Elevated radiation detected at former Bay Area landfill turned art park”
SF Chronicle article - “Albany park has areas of unusually high radiation, report finds”
Mercury News article - “Despite media hype, experts unfazed by elevated radiation at Albany Bulb”
The Bulb remains open to the public for regular recreational use. Love the Bulb will continue its planned activities unless otherwise required not to do so. We are following the situation closely and will share any new information that we receive from the City or other regulators.
Where to go for more information:
Water Board
City of Albany
General website about the Bulb