The Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, Building 815, was dedicated to the development of defense against radiation. The six-story windowless structure still stands today and is now owned by the Filesafe Corporation. (Photo taken in 1955)

The first reported environmental response at the Hunters Point Shipyard was the Atomic Energy Commission’s decontamination of Building 815, the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, in 1976 and again in 1978. Investigation of the toxic, non-radiological contamination at Hunters Point Shipyard began in 1978. The first Initial Assessment was completed in 1983. Three years later Congress incorporated the Department of Defense into the Superfund cleanup process and in 1989 the Hunters Point Shipyard was added to the National Priorities List - the list of the most polluted facilities. Initial sampling found polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), solvents, pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, and metals at a number of shipyard locations. [For more infomation about toxic chemicals, their origin in our environment, and associated health risks, visit our toxics page.]

As required by law, the Navy has been using the Superfund cleanup process to guide them through the immense task of locating and removing the contamination that 40 years of industrial activity left behind. To help speed up this process, the Shipyard was divided into six separate parcels, A through F, and each parcel is investigated separately. [For more information about the cleanup process visit our Military Base Cleanup and Superfund Process for Base Cleanup pages.]

What does clean mean and who decides?
How much of the cleanup has been completed?
How much longer before the Shipyard is transferred?

What does clean mean and who decides?

Each cleanup is subjected to a series of negotiations between the Navy and the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and California EPA's Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). There is no actual set of standards for the cleanup of pollutants although there are established levels at which pollutants require a cleanup response. The federal Superfund Act (CERCLA) established broad guidelines for the cleanup of hazardous waste sites but did not create exact cleanup levels. Toxicologists are continually conducting research to determine just how toxic each contaminant is, whether or not they cause cancer in humans and at what levels they are considered hazardous. Using this information, the EPA has established a list of cleanup guidelines known as preliminary remediation goals (PRGs). The Navy and the EPA establish specific cleanup levels for each parcel of the Shipyard using these goals.

For more information about the EPA’s Preliminary Remediation Goals, visit:
www.epa.gov/region09/waste/sfund/prg/index.htm

How much of the cleanup has been completed?

Cleanup has been going on at the Shipyard in earnest since 1991. Since then the Navy has conducted remedial activities throughout the site, including removing two large oil storage areas (Tank Farms), cleaning and closing a 500,000-gallon underground storage tank on Parcel C, excavating and disposing of tens of thousands of cubic yards of soil from Parcel B and treating groundwater to reduce the level of contamination. However it is important to note that only Parcel A has been certified by the EPA as clean. To date, the Navy has spent about $300 million on the cleanup of the Shipyard. While some parcels are close to completion, others are still in the investigation stage of the process.

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How much longer before the Shipyard is transferred?

It is difficult to state exactly when the transfer of property from the Navy to the City of San Francisco will begin. While the Federal Facilities Agreement sets a schedule for cleanup and the City’s Memorandum of Agreement with the Navy stipulates times when property should be ready for transfer, the cleanup process has been fraught with delays. Parcel A, which was thought to be ready for conveyance to the City as early as 2000, was postponed until the Historical Radiological Assessment (HRA), an investigation of historical radiological work at the Shipyard, was completed in March of 2004. Shortly after releasing the HRA, the Navy issued another "Finding of Suitability to Transfer" for Parcel A. If all goes according to schedule, the Navy hopes to transfer Parcel A by the Fall of 2004. As for the remaining parcels, the City of San Francisco’s Conveyance Agreement with the Navy calls for the transfer of Parcels B - F over the course of seven years beginning in 2006.

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