Restoring a neighborhood: Radium cleanup eases fears, rebuilds community

Contaminated property is every homeowner's nightmare. That is even more true if the contamination is radioactive. But for the residents of the Monclair, West Orange, and Glen Ridge neighborhoods in Essex County, New Jersey, the nightmare became reality in the early 1980s. These three communities--representing some 750 modest, neatly kept homes--rested on radium-contaminated soils, the result of backfilling and dumping operations from 80 years ago. Residents first became alarmed in 1984, following regulatory action that triggered public awareness of excessive indoor radon gas readings, ambient gamma radiation 150 times normal levels and soil radium concentrations up to 2000 times greater than background. The worst contamination was limited to about 150 of the homes, but community concern--and the threat of the unknown--was tremendous. Not only were soils contaminated, but radon--a gas that forms during the decay of radium--with readings as high as 300 pCi/L in some homes was affecting air quality as well. Because both surficial and deeper soils were found to contain radioactive wastes, runoff and groundwater contamination was feared