United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response
(5502G)
EPA520-F-92-016
Fall 1992
vvEPA Superfund At Work
Hazardous Waste Cleanup Efforts Nationwide
Lansdowne
Radioactive Residence
Site Profile
Site Description:
Three-story duplex dwelling, located in
a residential area of Lansdowne,
Pennsylvania, two miles from
Philadelphia
Site Size: 1/2-acre
Primary Contaminants:
Radium and other radionuclides
Potential Range of Health Risks
Without EPA Cleanup:
Increased risk of cancer from ingesting
or inhaling radioactive dust and gases
Nearby Population Affected:
11,000 people within one mite of
the site
Ecological Concerns:
Radioactive contamination of
soil and air
Year Listed on NPL: 1985
Year Deleted from NPL: 1991
EPA Region: m
State: Pennsylvania
Congressional District: 7
This house was a Superfund site. A physics professor refined radium in the
basement of this duplex for nearly twenty years, leading to high levels of radon
gas in the structure and surrounding soil.
Success In Brief
EPA Completes Cleanup of Nation's Only
Residential Superfund Site
In 1991, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE), carefully dismantled and
removed the country's only private residence Superfund site. The
former home laboratory was used for radium refining and processing
from 1924 to 1944. The history of the site is an intriguing one, and the
cleanup exemplifies the Superfund program's effectiveness. High-
lights of EPA actions at the site include:
• Destroying and removing an entire house, which was highly
contaminated with radioactive gas and dust, with no adverse
effects to cleanup workers or local residents;
• Completing the $11.6 million cleanup of the three-story brick
house and adjacent soil within one year;
• Establishing the precedent for cleanup of radiation in residential
areas;
• Maintaining strong community relations with the local residents
of Lansdowne and keeping them informed of Superfund activi-
ties through meetings and personal visits by EPA staff; and
• Deleting the site from EPA's National Priorities List (NPL) in
September 1991.
continued on page 3, col 3
The Site Today
Today the former Lansdowne
site is a cleared lot, replanted with
grass. Six neighboring yards have
been excavated and filled with
clean soil, and two garages have
been rebuilt. The site has been ,
eliminated from the National
Priorities List, the roster of the
nation's most hazardous waste
sites eligible for long-term
cleanup. The site is considered to
be complete in every respect, so it
has been excused from the usual
five-year review process.
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Superfund At Work
Lansdowne Radioactive Residence, Lansdowne, PA • Fall 1992
The former Lansdowne site
consisted of a three-story
duplex located at 105/107 East
Stratford Avenue in the
borough of Lansdowne,
Pennsylvania, approximately
two miles west of Philadel-
phia. The surrounding area is
a densely-populated residen-
tial neighborhood that was
established in the latter part of
the 19th and early 20th centu-
ries. Approximately 11,000
people live within a one-mile
radius of the site.
From 1924-1944, Dr. Dicran
Hadjy Kabakjian, a physics
professor at the University of
Pennsylvania, operated an
unregulated, "mom and pop"
radium processing laboratory
in the basement of 105 East
Stratford Avenue. The
professor's entire family was
employed at least part-time in
his business, supplying ra-
dium implant needles to local
physicians and hospitals for
the treatment of cancer pa-
tients. "I'd take the raw stuff
and cook it until you get [sic]
these radium crystals," said
A Site Snapshot
Alice Lewis, 74, the late
professor's daughter (Bucks
County Courier Times, 4/23/89).
"No secret was made of the
work we did here. If my dad
knew all the trouble it caused,
he'd be devastated," said Louise
Treichel, another surviving
daughter of the professor
(Delaware County Sunday Times,
July 31,1988). It was not known
"If my dad knew all the
trouble it caused, he'd be
devastated."
-Louise Treichel,
scientist's daughter
then that radium, a refined prod-
uct of uranium ore, decays and
forms radon gas and other carci-
nogenic by-products.
Radiation contamination of the
house and surrounding soil
manifested itself in the form of
radon gas (released during the
decay of radium), and gamma
radiation (a particulate by-prod-
uct released during the decay of
radon gas). Radon gas is
approximately 20 times more
hazardous than gamma radia-
tion. Levels for both radon and
gamma radiation found at the
site were several times higher
than federal standards permit.
Further threats existed through
the release of radon gas and
gamma radiation particles into
the air and soil.
Professor Kabakjian died in
1945 of emphysema, possibly
connected to acid fumes re-
leased during the professor's
radium refining process. When
Dr. Kabakjian's body was
exhumed for study in 1965, his
skeleton registered the highest
levels of radiation ever re-
corded in a human body.
Certainly the primary threat at
Lansdowne was to human
health, through breathing or
ingesting radioactive particles
and fumes. No other
Lansdowne residents have
suffered health effects as a
result of the site. The worst
potential effects of the radiation
were inside the house itself.
Lansdowne Radioactive
Residence Timeline
• Dr. Kabakjian dies, possibly as a result of
the refining process
Dr. Kabakjian begins production of radium needles in
basement of 105 East Stratford Avenue
1 U.S. Public Health Service and U.S. Air Force conduct
initial cleanup
• Kizirian family temporarily evacuated
1924
1944 1945
Page 2
1964
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Superfund At Work
Lansdowne Radioactive Residence, Lansdowne, PA
Fall 1992
Success in Brief
continued from page 1
The Superfund cleanup team,
comprised of EPA, USAGE and
their contractors, thoroughly
eliminated all radiation-con-
taminated debris and soil at the
site. The Lansdowne Radiation
case is a classic example of how
the Superfund program was
intended to work in situations
where an owner or operator of a
hazardous waste site cannot
fund the cleanup.
EPA Sets Two Precedents for
Radiation Cleanup
EPA encountered and
resolved two unique regula-
tory problems at the site. In
1986 there was no existing
federal safety standard for
levels of radiation in residential
communities. At Lansdowne,
EPA set the precedent for
addressing radiation levels in
residential areas. This in-
volved imposing even more
stringent levels than those set
forth by the Uranium Mill
Tailings Radiation Control Act
of 1978 (UMTRCA), which
only applies to radioactive
material at processing or
depository sites. The
Lansdowne site was the first
test case for establishing safety
standards for radiation in urban
areas.
The Lansdowne site helped
set yet another precedent for the
Superfund program. Generally,
radiation sites tend to be feder-
ally owned facilities and are
handled under the Atomic
Energy Act of 1954. As a result
of Lansdowne's proposal to the
NPL in 1985, EPA expanded the
criteria sites must meet to
qualify for Superfund cleanup.
One of these criteria was the
issuance of a public health
advisory, as occurred in
Lansdowne. The expanded
criteria have allowed other such
cases to be included on the NPL.
Superfund is enacted
> Lansdowne site brought to attention of EPA
EPA investigation finds Lansdowne radioactivity endangering duplex residents
EPA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency conduct emergency evacuation
r
1 Site placed on National Priorities List
' First EPA technical plan requires permanent relocation of occupants
Second EPA technical plan calls for totally dismantling the house,
excavating soils, and removing 246 feet of sewer lines
Cleanup crews begin work
Cleanup is complete
Monitoring begins to assure target levels met
• Site is deleted from the NPL
1980
1983 1984 1985 1986
1988 1989
1991
Page 3
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Superfund At Work
Lansdowne Radioactive Residence, Lansdowne, PA
Fall 1992
EPA Cleanup of "Hot House"
Eliminates Radiation Contamination
From 1924 to 1944, refined
radium ore was delivered to the
garage of the residence in a sandy
form. Dr. Kabakjian refined the
ore using an acid process. As a
result of this mishandling of
radium, acid fumes released
during the purification process
permeated both halves of the
duplex. Waste liquids were
poured down sinks and toilets,
contaminating 246 feet of sewer
lines. Wearing nothing more
protective than kitchen-style
aprons, the professor and his wife
routinely worked over a work-
bench covered only by newspa-
pers, and burned contaminated
papers in the chimney. By track-
ing the wastes around on their
shoes, the Kabakjian's uninten-
tionally but extensively contami-
nated the house and grounds.
Broken laboratory apparatus,
empty chemical bottles and
tailings from the operation were
buried on the grounds of the
professor's property as well as
neighboring properties. What
began as one professor's humani-
tarian research to help cancer
patients became a nightmare for
Lansdowne residents.
1964 Cleanup Partially Reduces
Radiation Threat
The 1988-89 Superfund
cleanup was preceded by an
attempt in the early 1960s to
purge the East Stratford Avenue
home. In 1963, the Pennsylvania
Department of Health inspected
the house and found extremely
high levels of radioactivity. In
1964, the U.S. Public Health
Service and the Pennsylvania
Department of Health made a
joint attempt to decontaminate or
stabilize the existing radiation of
the 105 residence, which had
since passed into the ownership
of Harry and Mary Kizirian.
The U.S. Air Force performed
the physical cleanup from early
May to September, 1964. This
effort involved removing and
disposing of the contaminated
interior, including furniture, rugs,
walls, and floors. Air Force
personnel tore apart concrete
A significant portion of
radium — one gram, the
weight of a paperclip —
remained behind.
floors and walls to remove radia-
tion. They sanded, vacuumed,
and scraped off the extreme "hot
spots," sealed contaminated
fireplaces, and fixed areas of
lesser contamination under
several layers of paint or stucco.
This eliminated the radiation
contamination levels by approxi-
mately 90%, and the house was
considered to be safe for habita-
tion once again, with one provi-
sion — that the occupants not
spend more than 16 hours per
day in the house. With that
knowledge, the Kizirians — who
were temporarily evacuated —
moved back into 105 East
Stratford Avenue. However,
radiation levels still exceeded
federal limits.
Once Is Not Enough: Radiation
Continues to Plague the Duplex
The 1964 cleanup did not
address contamination of the
"107" half of the residence, the
twin garages, the soil or sewer
lines. Nor did the initial cleanup
address off-site contamination,
such as neighbors' garages, yards,
driveways, and area vegetation.
However, a significant portion of
radium — one gram, the weight
of a paperclip — remained be-
hind. This amazingly small
amount of radiation was suffi-
cient to fully permeate the entire
duplex structure, a formidable
illustration of the contaminant's
potency.
Superfund Program Created to
Address Hazardous Sites
The legislation creating the
Superfund program was passed
by the U.S. Congress in 1980. The
primary intent of Superfund is to
compel companies or individuals
responsible for hazardous waste
sites to fund cleanups, such that
federal and state expenditures are
minimized. However, in the
event that owners and operators
have abandoned a site, or if they
are deceased — as in the case of
Lansdowne — a mixture of
federal and state funds covers the
costs of cleanup. Congress thus
established a revolving Trust
Fund to be used in such events,
with the provision that EPA take
all steps possible to recover these
costs from responsible parties. In
the case of Lansdowne, however,
no such party could be held liable,
so the Fund was used.
Page 4
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————•— Superfund At Work
During the course of an EPA
national survey of potential
radioactive sites in 1983, the
Lansdowne site was brought to
the Agency's attention by the
State of Pennsylvania's Depart-
ment of Environmental Re-
sources. EPA officials also
learned that the owners of the
duplex were planning to sell the
property. William Belanger,
radiation specialist for the
Agency's regional office re-
sponded, "I do not see a risk to
the public at large, but if the
house is sold, the new occupants
would be getting into a poten-
tially unhealthful situation."
EPA visited the site in 1983 and
found radon levels exceeding
federal limits by as much as seven
to ten times. Having discovered
these elevated levels, EPA con-
tacted Argonne National Labora-
tory (a Department of Energy
facility near Chicago) to assist in
determining the extent of the
contamination.
EPA's Emergency Actions Safe-
guard Residents
In July 1984, the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) advised
EPA that long-term residents of
the duplex were endangered by
the elevated gamma-radiation
and radon levels in the house.
Argonne National Laboratory's
findings agreed with those of
EPA and CDC, so in September
1984, EPA authorized an emer-
gency action to evacuate the two
owners occupying 105 and 107
East Stratford Avenue.
Generally, sites contaminated
with radiation are not addressed
by Superfund authority, but by
other federal statutes. However,
the danger to health posed by
-adiation led EPA to amend its
Lansdowne Radioactive Residence, Lansdowne, PA
Fall 1992
Philadelphia
International
Airport
NPL ranking system to allow for
such cases. Thus, the site was
placed on the NPL in September
1985, making it eligible for federal
funding under the Superfund
law. EPA immediately issued its
first technical plan, calling for the
occupants' permanent relocation.
However, that action proved
unnecessary, because the resident
of 105 died, and the resident of
107 remarried and moved else-
where.
In the winter of 1985, EPA
installed a sprinkler system on all
three floors to extinguish poten-
tial fires. This system was
boosted by an on-site, 1,000-
gallon water tank. Heavy, rein-
forced plastic sheets also sealed
off all the windows of the house,
thereby minimizing leakage of
radioactive dust or gas. hi the
event of a fire, which would pose
an irnminent hazard to local
residents because of radioactive
fallout, EPA and the local fire
department designed a contin-
gency plan for evacuating hun-
dreds of people in the surround-
ing neighborhood. Fortunately,
this contingency plan did not
need to be exercised.
New EPA Plan Calls for
Removal of "Hot" House
In the aftermath of these activi-
ties and in light of the 1964
cleanup, EPA decided to elimi-
nate any future threat of exposure
by removing the duplex structure
itself. Toward that end, a second
technical plan was signed in
September 1986, outlining the
procedure for dismantling the
entire duplex, excavating con-
taminated soil, removing con-
taminated sewer lines, and dis-
posing radium-contaminated
materials off-site. After issuing
'age 5
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————— Superfund At Work
this plan, EPA entered into an
inter-agency agreement with the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(USAGE) to manage the cleanup.
While cleanup designs for the
site were underway, the U.S.
Congress reauthorized the
Superfund legislation in 1986, and
appropriated $8.5 billion to
continue the program nation-
wide. Although the second
technical plan for Lansdowne had
been approved in 1986, funds
were not obligated until April,
1988.
The Cleanup Begins
Cleanup crews arrived at the
site on August 1,1988, and
worked for the next 10 months.
An 8-foot chain link fence was
erected around the perimeter of
the site and 24-hour security
installed to prevent accidental
exposure to the site. In addition,
the area was continuously
lighted. Through these actions,
EPA deterred public access to the
site, but certainly not public
interest concerning the peculiar
Lansdowne home and its
Superfund status.
EPA Stresses Safety First
Before the actual dismantling
of the duplex began, Superfund
workers secured the site structure
to prevent the release of radioac-
tive particulates into the environ-
ment. The house itself was used
as a containment area: all win-
dows, chimneys and doors were
sealed with flexible plastic sheet-
ing. A ventilation system, consist-
ing of air ducts and pumps run-
ning from the top to the bottom
floors, assured that any possible
contaminants escaping would be
drawn back into the house.
Workers wore protective gear
Lansdowne Radioactive Residence, Lansdowne, PA • Fall 1992
with built-in ventilation systems,
and had to abide by strict safety
guidelines to avoid contacting or
spreading radium contamination.
Having established complete
security at the site, the house was
dismantled from the top down —
from the shingles on the roof to
the basement. "We're going to
take it down stone by stone, brick
by brick, nail by nail. There will
be no bulldozers making it crash
down in a puff of dust, that's not
the case. It's going to be picked
apart, piece by piece," said
Vic Janosik, EPA's on-site Reme-
dial Project Manager (Delaware
County Sunday Times, 7/31/88).
Janosik was referring to the
After dismantling the entire
house, EPA found there
remained oniy one and a half
bricks that were not
contaminated with radiation...
painstaking method used to
dismantle the duplex and twin
garages, without dispersing
radioactive dust — the most
dangerous form of the contami-
nant. Two neighboring garages
were also found to contain high
levels of radiation, and were also
dismantled and replaced.
Materials were carefully re-
moved, packed into specialized
containers, and transported to a
radiation waste disposal site in
Utah. After dismantling the
entire house, EPA found there
remained only one and a half
bricks that were not contaminated
with radiation beyond safety
levels. Approximately 1,430 tons
of contaminated rubble were
generated, filling 460 shipping
boxes (each with a 90 cubic foot
capacity) and 77 tractor trailers.
EPA Addresses Radioactive
Soil and Sewer Lines
Contaminated soil was found
in an area of nearly 40,000 square
feet, at depths ranging from one
to 11.5 feet. In addition to the
duplex, approximately 4,109 tons
of radium-contaminated soil from
the property, as well as from six
neighboring yards, were exca-
vated and packed into shipping
containers for disposal. This was
enough to fill 878 metal shipping
boxes and to load 212 tractor
trailers. The excavations began at
the 105/107 property as the
dismantlement reached the first
floor and continued until after the
house was completely removed.
Some 246 feet of sewer line also
had to be excavated and replaced.
This last phase proved the most
difficult, requiring rapid expo-
sure, removal, replacement and
re-connection of the East Stratford
Avenue sewer line. Finally, 6,776
tons of clean soil were hauled in
to backfill all the excavated areas.
The former duplex's lot, as well as
the six neighboring yards, were
regraded and planted with new
vegetation. EPA then initiated
monitoring, to ensure that
cleanup safety levels had
been met.
Community Supports EPA
Cleanup
The Lansdowne community
lent EPA their support and coop-
eration throughout the process,
due largely to a highly personal-
ized approach by Superfund staff.
This included regular visits to
neighboring homes by EPA staff
to inform them of on-going
Page 6
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Superfund At Work
Lansdowne Radioactive Residence, Lansdowne, PA
Fall 1992
progress at the site. In addition,
EPA staff conducted an active
campaign to ensure that the
extended community, local
governments and the State of
Pennsylvania were well-informed
about the activities related to the
site. Community relations efforts
involved public meetings, neigh-
borhood meetings, press confer-
ences, circulation of fact sheets
and a tour of the site facilities by
Lansdowne officials. To com-
memorate this accomplishment,
EPA held a public ceremony on
June 19,1989.
Site is Deleted from NPL
On September 10,1991, the
Lansdowne site was deleted from
the National Priorities List, follow-
continued on back page
Site Deletion from National Priorities List
Sites may be deleted from
the NPL if all appropriate
cleanup activities have been
implemented. Cleanup activi-
ties are considered "complete"
when: actions restore ground
or surface water quality to a
level that assures protection of
health and the environment;
measures restore ground or
surface water to such a point
that reductions in contamina-
tion concentrations are no
longer significant; or ten years
have elapsed/ whichever
occurs first.
If no further cleanup actions
are needed, a Superfund site is
removed from the NPL. This
process requires that EPA
provide the state in which the
site is located 30 working days
to review the deletion notice
before its publication in the
Federal Register. Once the notice
is published, the public may
respond with comments and
new data to refute or support
the proposed deletion. Once
the final deletion is published,
the notice is placed in a local
public information repository.
To date, 40 Superfund sites
have been deleted from the
NPL, including Lansdowne.
A Major Excavation
Nearly three-hundred tractor trailers were
needed to haul away 1,338 metal shipping
boxes containing 5,539 tons of contaminated
rubble and soil to a secure radium disposal
site in Utah. After totally dismantling the
house, EPA found there remained only one
and a half bricks that were not contaminated.
Page?
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Superfund At Work
Lansdowne Radioactive Residence, Lansdowne, PA
Fall 1992
Cleanup of
"Hot House"
continued from page 7
ing a 30-day public comment
period. The EPA determined that
its target safety levels had been
achieved, and no further actions
were deemed necessary. There
are no site access or use restric-
The EPA is confident that the
former radioactive site now
contains "the cleanest dirt in
southeastern Pennsylvania"
tions in place, and EPA is confi-
dent that the former radioactive
site now contains "the cleanest
dirt in southeastern Pennsylva-
nia."
Success at Lansdowne
All of EPA's cleanup objec-
tives were met, and the
Lansdowne site, which had
been contaminated since the
1920s, is now completely safe
and unrestricted for future
use. The former occupants
and their families may now
sell the vacant lot, at fair
market value, for use as a
residential site.
Throughout the cleanup,
EPA demanded that the safety
of residents and workers came
first. With this guiding prin-
ciple, EPA not only eHminated
all future threats posed by the
Lansdowne site, but estab-
lished the first safety guide-
lines for cleaning up radiation
contamination at residential
sites.
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