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Brandeis-Bardin 2005

Excerpt from the EnviroReporter.com exposé Brandeis-Bardin’s Toxic Denial:

The chemical sheen glossing the camp water was sampled and analyzed in 2005 from the same unmarked canyon as the 2004 soil test. The 2005 Brandeis-Bardin water report [13 PDF pages; 355 KB], completed in 2006, found Sr-90 over double both the Los Angeles and national averages and Pu-239/240 at nearly half as high as the highest Pu-239/240 pulled and tested in Area IV groundwater by the EPA.

2014 Brandeis-Bardin gurgling goo – photo by Brandon Manwell

Tritium came in at double background according to H-3 levels cited in an April 21, 1996 Brandeis-Bardin crop testing report recently released by AJU in response to the KNBC I-Team investigation LA’s Nuclear Secret which included Brandeis-Bardin’s pollution issues. [The KNBC I-Team brought critical information first reported by this journalist in many cases to a much broader audience. KNBC also shook loose invaluable old reports from Brandeis-Bardin that EnviroReporter.com has used in this exposé.]

Beta radiation in the 2005 water was over double the national average in drinking water supplies derived by data provided by the National Research Council (US) Safe Drinking Water Committee. Beta radiation is often associated with man-made radionuclides like Cs-137 and Sr-90.

Warning sign at Brandeis-Bardin in 2005.

"No Hiking Beyond This Point" leans against an oak near where the Brandeis-Bardin soil and water were tested in 2004 and 2005.

Water source here seems up a steep ravine leading to SSFL Area IV.

The water had not stopped flowing since first observed in 2004.

The pipe cap espied in 2004 had moved considerably in the year since first seen.

Orangish goo in 2005.

Brandeis-Bardin in 2005.

Sampling the water in 2005.

Pipe draining liquid in the upper reaches of a canyon draining into Meier Canyon which leads down into heart of Brandeis-Bardin camp.

2005 Brandeis-Bardin white pipe draining a liquid of unknown precise origin.

Well RD-59B in 2005 in Brandeis-Bardin had “Tin-126 is a fission product and is possibly site process related,” according to DOE report.

Well RD-59B.

A trio of Brandeis-Bardin wells called RD-59A, RD-59B and RD-59C has yielded some shocking results with Area IV’s nuclear contamination fingerprints. “The cluster is located below the escarpment with groundwater flow from the mountain resulting in a generally upward gradient,” the report says. “The heads of B and C are above the ground surface and result in flowing artesian conditions.”

RD-59A is recorded as having a filtered reading of *Cadmium-113m of 9,700 pCi/L. The well is subsequently recommended for future sampling because “Cadmium-113m neutron activation of Cadmium-112 used in reactor control rods – possibly site process related*.” [*Report emphasis*] Presumably, “site process related” means it came from SSFL activities.