Lansdowne Radiation Site

Overview

From 1924 to 1944, a University of Pennsylvania professor processed enriched radium ore in the basement of a home on Stratford Avenue in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. That work spread radioactive contamination across a wide area, affecting the three-story house, two garages on the property, two neighboring garages, about 243 feet of municipal sewer line, sidewalks, the street, and soil on eight properties. Radioactive material in soil and structures was identified as the primary concern, posing unacceptable risk to human health and the environment.

EPA listed the site on the Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1985. Emergency actions started in 1984, including temporarily relocating the home's resident, conducting additional radium testing, installing fire suppression and alarm systems, and sealing the home's windows. The long-term cleanup, carried out between 1986 and 1991, demolished the contaminated house, removed and disposed of 1,430 tons of contaminated building rubble and 4,109 tons of contaminated soil off-site, cleaned up sidewalks and street sections, repaved the street, and replaced the contaminated sewer line. Excavated areas were backfilled and reseeded. The cleanup was organized into two operable units (OUs). OU1 addressed sitewide concerns, with a Record of Decision issued August 2, 1985. OU2 focused on house demolition and soil disposal, with a Record of Decision issued September 22, 1986.

Construction was completed on February 28, 1991, and EPA deleted the site from the NPL on September 10, 1991. Human exposure is currently under control across the entire site, with no unacceptable exposure pathways remaining and all required land-use restrictions in place. The site is not a groundwater contamination site. It achieved sitewide ready for anticipated reuse status on June 15, 2006.

Community members with questions about the site can contact EPA staff assigned to this site. Detailed records of EPA's actions and decisions are available through the Administrative Record, which can be reviewed online or in person at the U.S. EPA Region 3 office in Philadelphia by calling (215) 814-2396 to schedule an appointment.