In November 2004, a non-profit scientific organization, The RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC), conducted a radiological survey around the Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. TRAC collected 15 environmental samples from 8 candidate, radiological pathways from ORR into the surroundings. TRAC selected samples based on official reports, concerns expressed by citizens, and availability of material.

TRAC found radioactivity of ORR origin in five of the 8 pathways tested. Each of those positive results is associated with a deficiency of official monitoring. The most notable deficiency is the failure to address contaminated groundwater from ORR, which is still largely out of sight and out of mind. This deficiency will become a severe, long lasting, intractable problem in future decades, unless substantial improvements are made.

In TRAC’s survey, the radionuclides of greatest concern from ORR were strontium-90 (Sr-90) and radium-226 (Ra–226). Ra-226 is the base material for intense sources of neutrons. Intense neutron sources can produce blocked isotopes for micro-nuclear weapons. Ra-226 of ORR origin thus evidences new pollution already seeping out from a new generation of weapons production.

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