Unexpected Radiation 'Hot Spots' Found In NYC

[mhatrw]

Very nearby one of these "hot spots" is the Fresh Kills landfill where the WTC debris was taken.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/9904214/detail.html

Anti-terrorism officials conducted a helicopter survey of New York City's radiation sources in preparation for a so-called "dirty bomb" attack -- and discovered a Staten Island park with dangerously high levels of radium, a new report found. Federal authorities found 80 unexpected "hot spots" around New York City, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

...

The report does not identify which city park had the contaminated soil, but NYPD officials said it was in Gateway National Park in Staten Island. The site was closed, and New York has requested federal money to do a citywide aerial survey every year to update the information.

...

The helicopters picked up sources of low-level radiation from expected places, like granite statues and medical isotopes at hospitals, but it also found dozens of other sources of unexpected radioactivity, the GAO report found.

At the Staten Island park, sensors detected large quantities of radium in the soil. Long-term exposure to radium increases the risk of developing lymphoma, bone cancer and leukemia. National Park Service spokesman Brian Feeney said the area is a one-acre piece of the 570-acre Great Kills Park, which is part of the larger Gateway park.

[ThomCat]

1. Wonderful. No wonder cancer seems to be blooming

on Staten Island. We're all being irradiated.
x(

[MadMaddie]

2. Could that explain the higher cancer rates in NY?

[orwell]

3. Maybe they found...

...a dirty bum...

[Parche]

7. dirty bum

They had to....as the Republicans are all full of crap

[ProgressiveEconomist]

4. Maybe it was the site of a watch factory. What's the half-life of

radium?

Decades ago, tens of thousands of watches were produced with luminescent dials. The luminescence was accomplished with radium-infused paint. IIRC, hundreds of workers used little screens to paint the numerals, often sharpening the tip of their brushes with their lips and tongue every few strokes.

[Poppyseedman]

5. Impossible

The only possible explanation is a "tin foil" theory.

We have a "tin foil" theory for EVERY other strange and weird happenstance that requires more than a normal rational explanation, so this MUST fall into the "tin foil" theory category

Obviously, the government planted radium in various locations in NYC as a prelude to the 9/11 attacks to throw us off the true path of realization the there are no terrorist, the WTC were demolished, WTC # 7 was pulled down to bring about a bush/cheney/rice/rumsfield fascist state which has yet to materialize........

[bananas]

9. The radiation apparently comes from "some piece of industrial equipment, p

The radiation apparently comes from "some piece of industrial equipment, pieces of old rusty metal. Whatever this equipment used to do, it picked up radioactivity," he said.

[Rockstone]

6. Cobalt Man

http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/border/ch09/cobalto.html

[happyslug]

8. Granite often contains high level of Radiation

And New York City is built on a Granite base, thus these Hot Spots may be natural. You also have the possibility of contamination from 1900 till about 1960 when the State and Federal Government finally put in regulations on radiation contamination. New York had a lot of Small Factories during the 1900-1960 period so contamination is perfectly possible, but I lean to natural causation given the fact New York is built on a Granite Base.