Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers
Topics: California, Military, US News
Joe Yates
Topics: California, Military, US News
An 'urgent warning' has been issued in a US state after 'dangerous' levels of radiation were allegedly discovered a year prior.
Plutonium-239 - which is the main fissile material used in nuclear weapons - has been detected at the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco, California, and while nearby residents have only just been informed of the leak, the US Navy has been accused of concealing the discovery.
The shocking revelation comes after it emerged that the military allegedly waited 11 months before notifying the public that airborne plutonium-239 had been found near a residential area.
Airborne plutonium-239 is seriously bad news. When inhaled, its tiny particles can get stuck deep in your lungs or move into your bones and liver, where they keep firing off damaging alpha radiation for decades. That means long-term exposure can damage your DNA and increase your risk of getting cancer - particularly of the lungs.
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To make things worse, it’s also chemically toxic - like breathing in radioactive lead.
According to a recent notice posted on community groups in the vicinity, the Navy only notified the San Francisco Department of Public Health last month about the discovery, made last November.
Locals and city leaders have slammed the delay as 'unacceptable' and are now demanding accountability.
The radioactive sample was detected in Parcel C - an area adjacent to a hillside dotted with condos and overlooking a public park where families regularly gather.
Dr Susan Philip, San Francisco’s health officer, has formally requested all records related to the incident - including data from a year’s worth of air quality monitoring.
"We share your deep concerns regarding the 11-month delay in communication from the Navy,” Philip told residents as part of the community notice. "We demand nothing short of full transparency and prompt communication from our federal partners and regulatory agencies to ensure your safety.”
Hunters Point, a 866-acre site once home to a US naval shipyard and radiological lab, has been plagued by contamination scandals for decades.
The base - used to decontaminate ships after atomic bomb tests between 1948 and 1960 - left behind radioactive waste, heavy metals, and toxic fuels, making it one of America’s most polluted Superfund sites since 1989.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed that the Navy found plutonium in one of two samples taken, and said it is now reviewing all data 'to verify the finding' and 'determine what risk there is to the public'.