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plumes, three <br /> firing <br /> tables with contaminated surface soil, two <br /> springs, <br /> and ten areas of <br /> subsurface soil contamination. Recent studies <br /> indicate the entire Pit <br /> 7 <br /> Complex has surface soil contamination. Maximum <br /> concentrations of <br /> tritium <br /> were measured at 2 million picocuries per liter <br /> of <br /> groundwater. The <br /> Safe <br /> Drinking Water Act sets the Maximum Contaminant <br /> Level <br /> at 20,000 pCi/L, <br /> which is 100 times lower than the tritium <br /> pollution at <br /> site 300. <br /> The massive pollution at the Pit 7 Complex has <br /> made it <br /> a focus of <br /> Tri-Valley CAREs' efforts to obtain an adequate <br /> cleanup of site 300. <br /> Tritium is radioactive hydrogen and is used in <br /> thermonuclear or <br /> H-bombs. <br /> Tritium in liquid phase (as is the case in the <br /> site <br /> 300 groundwater) <br /> is, <br /> basically, radioactive water. If ingested, it <br /> will <br /> behave like water <br /> in <br /> the body, essentially permeating every cell. <br /> There are several leaking pits in this complex, <br /> and so <br /> far, after years <br /> of <br /> study and debate, nothing has been done to either <br /> stop <br /> the leaks or to <br /> halt <br /> the migration of the contaminated groundwater <br /> plume. <br /> For example, <br /> within <br /> the Pit 7 Complex are Pits 3 and 5 where tritium <br /> was <br /> released in the <br /> early <br /> 1980's due to a rise in the water table that <br /> saturated <br /> the landfills <br /> and <br /> washed radioactive tritium into the groundwater <br /> aquifer. This area is <br /> re-contaminated during rainy years. As a result, <br /> the <br /> tritium plume <br /> there <br /> is two-miles long and still spreading. <br /> 3 <br />