Exclusive 2019 Update: VICTORY AT THE VA – West LA Veterans Administration master plan protects old nuclear dump from development
Before visiting the dump for the third day of coring, EnviroReporter.com returned to Barrington Dog Park, part of which lies over the dump according to VA nuke dump maps. In late 2006, the southern field of the dog park was covered in fresh grass. The area over the dump is now bare dirt that big dogs run on, supervised by their humans. The arroyo west of the dog park, which the phase one report said tested high in radiation, appears to have had no activity in it as any part of phase two.
The day before, this reporter had failed to get any of the men to talk about who they were working for. That didn’t prevent me from seeing that Core Probe International, out of San Gabriel, California, was doing the boring into the soft fill, pulling up 6′-long tubes of fill dirt. We were able to later ascertain that the self-propelled boring machine that they were using was called a Geoprobe 6610 DT System.
Core Probe describes the machine on its website: “The Power of a Kubota 4-Cylinder Turbo Diesel engine. The Model 6610DT converts mechanical energy from the diesel engine to hydraulic energy. This allows us to advance and retrieve probe rods and down-hole tools for subsurface sampling. It also powers the unit track assemblies via remote control, providing a highly mobile probing machine. This rig is capable of conducting Concrete Drilling, Soil, Vapor, Groundwater Sampling and well installations. The 6610DT System is equipped with GH60 Hammer that supply up to 47,000 Lbs. of pulling capacity and 35,000 lbs of down force. The probe cylinder has a 66” stroke. This rig has Outrigger Extensions for leveling the unit in uneven conditions. Self Contained Decon Water Tank and Decon Rack. Optional auger head attachment and Drop Hammer for geotechnical blow counts for SPT calculations.”
As impressive as that all sounds, it’s clear that the probe is unable to traverse the steep, junk and plant-choked hillsides where much of the known dump is located. Judging from where the actual boring has been taking place, however, could lead one to believe that boring where the dump actually is known to be might not be in the phase two work plan.
(Click thumbnail to view entire photograph)
The dog park's main area seems less crowded than before. Mostly professional dog walkers inhabit the place in the daytime.
The southern field of the dog park lays partially over the known biomedical nuclear dump on VA property (which includes the dog park).
The arroyo west of the dog park.
The phase one report said that this arroyo tested high in radiation.
This area borders apartments and condominiums on Barrington Avenue in Brentwood.
The mound in the foreground is the Brentwood School debris pile.
Note that no tracks from the Geoprobe self-propelled half track are seen.
No tracks mean no probing of a known debris pile in the dump.
The men are coring with their backs to the known four areas of dumping.
The coring on this day was being done away from the center of the dump.
Barrington Dog Park is up on the hillside, surrounded by a high chain link fence.
Exclusive 2019 Update: VICTORY AT THE VA – West LA Veterans Administration master plan protects old nuclear dump from development
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