DEC and EPA radiological survey hits the road on Monday
The ground-level survey will supplement data collected during the first phase of the radiological survey that took place in late 2023 and the summer of 2024, as well as historic surveys from the 1970s and1980s.
Information collected will be used by state and federal experts to guide any necessary follow-up with on-the-ground surveys and sampling later this year. DEC, the New York State Department of Health (DOH), and EPA are coordinating this effort and will continue to keep the community informed as this evaluation progresses.
In the first phase of the radiological survey, DEC and EPA did not identify any areas of immediate concern.
Phase II of the survey will be conducted by an EPA truck equipped with a suite of sensors for measuring potential radiation sources. The truck will have four sensors to measure radiological energy emissions from four separate directions, as well as a mobile GPS unit.
The survey is expected to take approximately four weeks, with the unmarked EPA pickup truck traveling 180 to 240 miles per day on selected roadways in Niagara and Erie counties. The vehicle will travel slowly — typically 20 miles per hour — on the shoulder of roads with hazard flashers.
Detection equipment will include the same suite of sensors that measured potential radiation sources from the air as part of Phase I of the survey, which was conducted by a single-engine, low-flying plane called the Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology (ASPECT). The various sensors on the pickup truck work together to generate data that will supplement data captured from Phase I to evaluate radiological activity at ground level and ascertain whether the source of the activity is naturally occurring or from a man-made source.
Phase 3, which will involve on-the-ground surveys by DEC and EPA staff of selected areas using data captured in Phases 1 and 2, is scheduled to start later in 2025.
Western New York was a hub for the manufacturing of atomic weapon components during World War II and other industries using or producing radiologic materials. This survey is being performed out of an abundance of caution to provide the most current and scientific information to complement a similar aerial radiological survey of the region that was previously conducted in 1984 that assessed the extent of potential use and distribution of biproducts and waste material containing radiological material.
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