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.
 If you wish to be added to our mailing list or to comment on this bulletin's content, length, or
 format, please call (703) 603-8984, or send a letter to Superfund At Work, (5502G), 401 M
                   Street SW, Washington, DC 20460
   For additional copies of this or other Superfund At Work updates, contact the National
   Technical Information Service, U.S Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road,
              Springfield, VA 22161, telephone (703) 487-4650
     EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
5502G
Washington, D.C. 20460

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