U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
75 Hawthorne Street (AIR-6)
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

LAWRENCE BERKELEY NATIONAL LABORATORY

TRITIUM ISSUES

EPA STATEMENT TO THE BERKELEY CITY COUNCIL

October 20, 1998

Michael S. Bandrowski

Chief, Office of Radiation and Compliance Assurance

Air Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

(415) 744-1048

Good evening my name is Mike Bandrowski and I am the Chief of the Radiation and Compliance Assurance Office in EPA, Region 9. I would like to thank the Mayor and City Council for including me in your meeting. I will be giving you an update on our involvement with tritium issues related to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s (LBNL) tritium labeling facility.

As you know, over the past two years we have worked closely with concerned Berkeley residents, LBNL staff, and government agencies as part of the Tritium Issues Workgroup to insure that the public’s health is protected from the tritium labeling facility’s releases. I believe we have made progress and we have all benefited by hearing each other’s concerns. I recognize that the community is very concerned with the tritium releases and I would like to personally thank all of the Berkeley residents who have given their valuable time to the workgroup effort.

Before I discuss the specific issues at LBNL, I would like to reinforce that EPA’s primary responsibility is to protect public health and the environment. Under the Clean Air Act, we are charged with ensuring that emissions from LBNL are safe and that the public is protected.

Let me first address our assessment of the lab’s data concerning the tritium releases. These data indicate tritium is at very low levels, well below national public health standards set under the Clean Air Act. These national standards are designed to protect public health and they have undergone a rigorous scientific evaluation and public rulemaking process. The tritium levels we’ve seen are protective of public health.

The community, however, remains concerned about the tritium releases. Because of their concerns, because you have asked us to provide independent review, and because we feel that there is room for improvement in the lab’s monitoring program, EPA will continue to play an active role and will conduct additional sampling and monitoring around the facility. We also want to reinforce EPA’s belief in the importance of an informed community, and we strongly support active citizen participation in this process and in the review of monitoring data. Federal Agencies need to be responsive to public concerns. EPA is committed to meeting with the Department of Energy to stress these points.

As you know, the Tritium Issues Workgroup, which was established at your request, is in the process of developing a "Scope of Work" to engage a contractor to perform an independent evaluation of the current monitoring program. The contract, which will include citizen input, will provide for collection and analysis of samples in ground water, surface water, soil, tree leaves and other media to look at any possible areas of tritium contamination. The information will be used to complete EPA’s Superfund assessment and to independently verify the LBNL data.

In order to provide additional assurance to ourselves and to Berkeley residents, EPA will also take a portion of the samples collected by the contractor and independently analyze these samples at our EPA laboratory.

EPA is also concerned about a recent tritium release from the Lawrence Berkeley Lab during a mixed waste treatability study. (The LBNL waste is considered mixed waste as it contains both tritium and hazardous spent solvents.) While the release was well below the national health standards, we want to be sure that every precaution is taken to prevent future releases. EPA is working with the State of California to actively investigate the cause of that release. The Lawrence Berkeley Lab has ceased the portion of the treatability study that was the source of the release. Later this evening, LBNL is on the agenda and will be able to address the treatability study and release in more detail.

Finally, EPA has responded to citizen requests to evaluate LBNL for potential listing on EPA’s National Superfund List. Ms. Betsy Curnow, Regional Superfund Site Assessment Program Manager, is here to provide the results of that evaluation. In addition, Dr. Periann Wood and Mr. Shelly Rosenblum of the EPA Radiation and Compliance Assurance Office will speak later in the meeting on the status of the Tritium Issues Workgroup and the Clean Air Act release standards related to the tritium facility.

In closing, let me assure you that EPA will continue to work with you to insure the safety and health of Berkeley citizens. Our office will be available to answer any questions you or citizens may have. The fact sheets we have provided contain the names and phone numbers of people you can contact for more information. Also, please feel free to contact me if you have questions or concerns.

Thank you.