LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY
BIG TREES PARK 1998 SAMPLING
An extensive sampling plan and sampling activities were implemented to evaluate the potential pathways by which plutonium reached the Big Trees Park in Livermore, California. The pathways evaluated included air dispersion, release of plutonium into the former and current Arroyo Seco, sewage sludge distribution, and atmospheric fallout deposition from LLNL activities.
Based on this analysis, ATSDR believes the most credible pathway by which plutonium
radioisotopes reached Big Trees Park was the application of plutonium contaminated sewage
sludge as a soil amendment. This is based on a comparison of the concentrations of both plutonium
and heavy metals collected from within tree wells to the concentrations present outside the tree
wells. Although there is an elevated concentration of plutonium in the park, the levels are below
the levels of health concern set by EPA (Region IX preliminary remediation goals; less than a risk
of 1 in a million) and below the recommended levels which NCRP has set for requiring additional activities. No other pathway appears to be a viable pathway for the presence of plutonium in the park.
No additional sampling is recommended at this time. Without the log book indicating who received the sludge, no way exists to determine appropriate sampling locations. The California Department of Health Services has agreed to continue investigating the issue of sewage sludge distribution from the Livermore Water Reclamation Plant. Unless additional information is obtained indicating specific locations where sludge was used, further sampling efforts would be inconclusive.
Paul A. Charp, PhD
Senior Health Physicist
California Department of Health Services, Environmental Health Investigations Branch
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