FACILITY MONITORING WELL DETECTS ELEVATED TRITIUM LEVEL

November 8, 1999

Brookhaven is in the process of installing 82 new groundwater monitoring wells this year, as part of a planned upgrade to our existing environmental monitoring system. The new wells will monitor active facilities to ensure that operational and engineered controls designed to protect the groundwater are working.

One new well at the center of the Brookhaven site, in the area of the physics experiment g-2 (pronounced "gee minus two"), showed an unexpected result in the October sample, which was reported by the analytical lab on November 2. The well is labeled 054-67 and is about 300 feet downgradient from the g-2 area. This location is 1.8 miles north of Brookhaven Lab's southern border. Groundwater in this area generally flows to the south, at a rate of about 270 feet per year.

Tritium is present in the sample, at a concentration that is two times the federal drinking water standard. A reanalysis of the October sample confirmed the results. A new sample taken on November 2 from the same well showed levels that were lower than the October sample, but still higher than the drinking water standard.

These levels of tritium will not impact the safety and health of workers or the public. Drinking water wells on the Lab site have not been affected by this contamination, and the potable well nearest to the g-2 area continues to show no detectable tritium. No potable wells off site will be affected.

The network of wells on site enables BNL to evaluate the extent of contamination. Sampling data from four other monitoring wells located in the g-2 area suggest that the contamination is fairly localized.

Brookhaven is investigating the possible source of contamination in Well 054-67 and has already notified local, state and federal regulators of the unusual tritium sampling result. The Lab has formed a technical team that will take additional groundwater samples and collect soil samples. The team will also investigate the g-2 cooling water system and other nearby apparatus that contain tritiated water, as well as review the environmental history of the area.

- Bet Zimmerman

Manager, Environmental Services Division