BY ROSE ADAMS
Radioactive contamination
recently found at southern
Brooklyn’s Dead Horse Bay
most likely hasn’t compromised
the health of the park’s visitors,
offi cials said.
“Radium-226 has been identifi
ed as the primary radiological
contaminant at the Site,”
wrote the National Parks Service
on its frequently asked
questions page. “However,
within a few feet of the source of
the radiological contamination
… the gamma radiation levels
found at the Site drop off to normal
background. Therefore, exposure
to gamma radiation is
not considered to be a signifi -
cant health risk.”
Parks offi cials closed the
southern half of Dead Horse
Bay in early August after investigators
discovered radioactive
contamination in the 178-acre
park located west of Floyd Bennett
Field.
A 2019 survey found excess
gamma radiation in 31 locations
across the former landfi ll,
which has become a destination
for scavengers looking for discarded
bottles and gems. Some
of the excess rays clustered
around two old deck markers
on the southern end of the park,
whose radioactive contents had
leaked.
Surveyors removed the
markers — which had been
used on old ships to provide
light at night — but told Brooklyn
Paper that their contents
had contaminated the surrounding
soil and, potentially,
the beach area.
“The presence of the manmade
radioluminescence articles
indicates that radioactive
waste materials are likely associated
with waste fi ll present
on-Site and in waste fi ll potentially
being released onto
the southern beach area,” said
National Parks Service spokeswoman
Daphne Yun.
Parks stewards said that the
risk of exposure depends on
how close visitors come to the
contaminated soil — which extends
two feet down from the
two-inch-long markers.
“The greatest potential risk
to human health comes from
being in direct contact with
the source of the contamination
for an extended period of
time,” authorities wrote on the
National Parks Service’s FAQ
page. “Polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs), pesticides, polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons,
and various metals also have
been identifi ed in the soil at the
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Dead Horse Bay is fi lled with discarded bottles, shards of china, and
other trash from when it served as a landfi ll. National Parks Service
Site, but the full nature and extent
of chemical contamination
is unknown at this time.”
But for most Dead Horse Bay
visitors — particularly those
who didn’t dig in the soil — the
risk of radiation exposure is
low, Yun said.
“There is a low potential
for exposure to radiation from
passive walking at the site,”
she said.
The paths and beach areas
contain levels of radiation under
the conservative dose limit
set for Dead Horse Bay of 1
milliRem per hour. The maximum
dosage set by the by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
of 2 milliRem per hour is
equivalent to a little more than
a dental x-ray, or a tenth of a
full chest x-ray, according to
the commission.
ALL CLEAR
Dead Horse Bay radioactive contamination
not a signifi cant health risk: Feds
203 Meserole Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222
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