"In 1997, ground water samples taken by BNL staff revealed concentrations of (radioactive) tritium that were twice the allowable federal drinking water standards - some samples taken were were 32 times the standard. The tritium was found to be leaking from the laboratory's High Flux Beam Reactor's spent fuel pool into the aquifer that provides drinking water for nearby Suffolk County Residents. Because Brookhaven employees did not aggressively monitor its reactor's spent-fuel pool for leaks, years passed before tritium contamination was discovered." -United States General Accounting Office, November 4, 1997.

Brookhaven National Laboratory, a federally-funded nuclear research facility in Suffolk County, was opened in 1947. In the 50-year period since, BNL has consistently polluted groundwater, soil, fish, and wildlife in the surrounding communities with toxic chemicals and deadly radioactivity, placing hundreds of thousands of Long Island families at risk. Government investigators have already located more than 80 toxic contamination sites throughout BNL's 3,200 acres.(1)

Groundwater: BNL sits atop a porous aquifer that is the sole source of drinking water for more than two million people. Radioactive leaks from the lab's High Flux Beam Reactor-long denied by the lab but well documented- have been contaminating the aquifer for more than 15 years. because of concerns for well water safety of nearby homes, 800 households in Shirley were offered free public water hook-ups to another system.(2)

Soil; Radioactive elements and carcinogenic materials have been found in six "plumes" that are continuing their migration off BNL property.(3)

Peconic River: In the 1970s, Brookhaven Bulldozers destroyed 200 acres of protected wetlands at the headwaters of the Peconic River to build a high-energy particle accellerator.(4) By 1979, radiation was present in fish and shellfish taken from the Peconic River, as well as in the river's banks (strontium90, cesium-137, and tritium) in areas where local residents fish.(5)

Human Health: Leaks from BNL have been tied to a multitude of oninous health indicators in nearby communities. Among them: Residents of communities nearest BNL suffer from disproportionate rates of breast, prostate and other cancers, including rare forms of childhood cancer. (6) Some 220,000 women living within 15 miles of BNL have significantly higher incedence of breast cancer than Suffolk County as a whole. (7) And Suffolk County itself has the highest breast cancer mortality rate in the nation. (8)

(1) DOE Baseline Environmental Management Report, 1996
(2) Grossman, Karl, The East Hampton Star, 1/25/97
(3) DOE Baseline Environmental Management Report, 1996
(4) Grossman, Karl, Power Crazy, New York: Grove Press Inc., 1986, p. 6.
(5) Grossman, Karl, "In the Corporate Interest" in Environmental Action, Nov. 1979, p.8.
(6) Jay Gould, The Enemy Within: The High Cost of Living Near Nuclear Reactors, New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 1996
(7) ibid
(8) ibid