Savannah River, South Carolina
Introduction
According to an Environmental Policy Institute (EPI) study, highly radio-active and toxic wastes are polluting soil and water at a nuclear fuel plant in South Carolina. The study based on US Dept of Energy examined the Savannah River plant tank farm, where radio-active wastes from more than 30 years of nuclear bomb production are stored. "Routine discharges of radio-active wastes into the soil as well as leaks and other accidents have severely contaminated the soil and shallow aquifers on the site. This poses a threat to the Tuscaloosa aquifer, which is the region's most important source of underground water supply. (EPI "International Herald Tribune" 10/86 "Wall Street Journal" 24/7/86
The National Research Council panel released a report listing 30 "significant unreported incidents" at the Savannah River production plants over the previous 30 years. As at Hanford, ground water contamination resulted from pushing production of radioactive materials past safe limits at this weapons complex. In January 1989, scientists discovered a fault running under the entire site which through which contaminants reached the underground aquifer, a major source of drinking water for the southeast. Turtles in nearby ponds were found to contain radioactive strontium of up to 1,000 times the normal background level.