nuclear-news

Data faked at Hunters Point Shipyard Radiation Cleanup ?

Nearly Half of Hunters Point Shipyard Radiation Cleanup in Question; Contractor Possibly Faked Data, NBC Bay Area, Navy review finds “inconsistencies” in cleanup contractor’s radiation data and says a good portion of it is likely fraudulent. By Liz Wagner, 31 Jan 18, 

The Navy has decided to retest all of the Hunters Point Shipyard for radiation after losing confidence in Tetra Tech, the contractor it hired to clean up contamination.

A yearlong review of Tetra Tech’s radiation data by Navy consultants found that nearly half of it may have been faked. The consultants found inconsistencies in Tetra Tech’s test results and the Navy said that a good portion of it is likely fraudulent.

The revelations are the latest setback for the shipyard, the superfund site along San Francisco’s southeastern waterfront that’s slated for major redevelopment, including homes, parks and shops.

The Navy awarded Tetra Tech at least $300 million in taxpayer dollars to rid the shipyard of radiological contamination left over from Cold War era-radiation experiments. Tetra Tech spent 12 years on the project, but half of the cleanup is now in question.

“That data that’s been collected over 12 years we lost confidence in,” said Derek Robinson, the Navy’s cleanup coordinator for Hunters Point. “It’s a big deal.”

Tetra Tech declined to comment, referring all questions to the Navy.

At the onset of the cleanup more than a decade ago, Navy officials divided the 900 acre shipyard into separate parcels. On several parcels, up to 67 percent of the cleanup data may have been falsified. That means some of Hunters Point could still be contaminated with radiation.

At this point the Navy doesn’t know if the land is safe. Officials said the Navy must now redo all of Tetra Tech’s work, which may include excavating and sampling the soil, and scanning the land for radiological contamination……… https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/Nearly-Half-of-Hunters-Point-Shipyard-Radiation-Cleanup-in-Question-Contractor-Possibly-Faked-Data-471799074.html

January 31, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general