2003

Under a Cloud - Fallout from the Savannah River Site (585 KB)

In April 2003, The RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC) identified a pattern of radioactive cesium-137 outside the northeast boundary of the Savannah River Site (SRS). That cesium-137 is evidence of recent radioactive fallout, from SRS, that contaminates the area downwind of the site. The radioactivity of that cesium-137 was 50 times the normal “background” level.

TRAC believes SRS’s contamination of the area downwind of the site poses a threat to public health and safety and environmental quality. SRS denies that the site contaminates public air and land and states that radioactivity from fallout around SRS is not above background levels.

TRAC also identified levels of cesium-137 at a thousand times background level in Lower Three Runs Creek, which drains SRS. Along with the cesium-137, TRAC found strontium-90 and a trace of cobalt-60 contaminating the creek. The combination of those three radionuclides suggests that the source of that contamination is spent nuclear fuel at SRS. That contamination is entering the Savannah River.

This report brings these contamination problems to the public’s attention so the affected communities can take action to protect their health and their environment.