Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
A multi-year study of 49 licensed landfills across Pennsylvania, including the Waste Management facility in Falls Township, has found that radium levels in landfill leachate pose no significant risk to human health.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigation concluded that none of the landfills exceeded the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission standard of 600 picocuries per liter (pCi/L) for industrial discharges.
Leachate is rainwater that collects in and filters through landfill waste. It is typically treated on-site or transported to a treatment plant before being released into rivers or streams, state environmental officials said.
“Pennsylvania is a national leader when it comes to regulating radioactive materials in landfills,” said DEP Secretary Jessica Shirley. “The takeaway here is that there is no risk to human health from radiation in landfill leachate.”
The study involved two years of sampling raw, untreated leachate using gamma spectroscopy to measure radioactivity.
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Researchers also conducted a secondary confirmatory analysis using radiochemistry.
According to the DEP, most results were significantly lower than the federal limit.
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While 11 landfills showed radium levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water limit of 5 pCi/L, officials noted that raw leachate is not drinking water and never should be consumed by humans.
Radioactive materials in landfills often originate from medical waste, including from cancer treatments, as well as oil and gas waste.
Naturally occurring radon gas, which is common in Pennsylvania’s geological formations, also contributes to radioactivity levels.
The DEP findings reinforce previous studies indicating that radioactive materials in wastewater discharges do not threaten surface water or public drinking water supplies, state police said.
The DEP is recommending an additional four quarters of sampling and radiochemistry analysis.
In 2000, Pennsylvania became the first state in the nation to require landfills to monitor all incoming waste for radioactive materials.