The National Air and
Radiation Environmental
Laboratory (NAREL)
of the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (USEPA)
in cooperation with
the U.S.
Naval Sea Systems Command
(NAVSEA) has previously
surveyed facilities
serving nuclear-powered
warships. The surveys
began in 1963 and have
been conducted on the
Atlantic and Pacific
coasts, on the Gulf
of Mexico of the Continental
United States, and
in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
In 1996, an interagency
agreement (IAG) was
signed with NAVSEA
for EPA-NAREL to perform
radiological surveys
over the next five
years at active facilities
serving nuclear-powered
warships. These surveys
assess whether the
construction, maintenance,
overhaul, or refueling
of nuclear-powered
warships have created
elevated levels of
radioactivity that
would result in significant
population exposure
or contamination of
the environment.
For each harbor survey, a pre-survey trip is made to develop
a sampling and survey plan with the assistance of knowledgeable
site personnel, including the Navy and the EPA Region Radiation
Program Manager who coordinates concerns from the local public
and the State Department of Health. An EPA survey team independently
collects samples and performs radiation measurements at the
survey site. Radioanalytical analyses of all samples are independently
performed at NAREL. Sample collection during the study for
radioanalytical analysis will include harbor bottom sediment,
cores of harbor bottom sediment, harbor water, drinking water
and marine biota. External radiation measurements will be
made on the shoreline, at public access points and underwater
in the harbor. A report will be prepared documenting the results
obtained during the study and conclusions regarding impacts
on the population and environment.
The IAG with the Navy is for eight surveys of harbor groups
over five years with about two harbor groups surveyed per
year. The first environmental study was performed in September
1996 at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard (PSNS) in Bremerton,
WA, and the Naval Submarine Base in Bangor, WA. A second survey
was done at San Diego Bay, CA, in March 1997. Additional surveys
have been performed as follows:
- Portsmouth Naval
Facilities, ME,
during September
1997
- Pearl Harbor
Naval Facilities,
HI, in April 1998
- Naval Nuclear
Power Training
Unit near Charleston,
SC, and Kings Bay
Submarine Base
at Kings Bay, GA,
in May 1999
- Naval Facilities
in the New London
Narbor and on the
Thames River, CT,
during September
1999
A survey of the
Norfolk Naval Facilities
and Newport News
Shipbuilding, VA,
was completed in
November 2000.
Marine life
samples
|
Sediment sample
preparation |
|
Underwater radiation
detector
Using dredge to take a
harbor sediment sample
Sediment sample
removed from dredge
External radiation
measurement and collecting
shoreline sediment
samples
|
