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Daily Planet Staff 

The Alameda County School Board voted Tuesday to advise its students not to visit the Lawrence Hall of Science, located in the Berkeley-Oakland Hills. 

“The Lawrence Hall of Science is adjacent to the emissions stack of the National Tritium Labeling Facility, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which emits radioactive tritiated water vapor,” the county board’s resolution stated. 

Spokespersons for the Lab and for Lawrence Hall, who contend the releases are too low-level to be a danger, argue that the board neglected to advise them that they were going to consider the advisory. 

“They took action without input from the Lab or Lawrence Hall,” said Ron Kolb, LBNL spokesperson. 

Alameda County Superintendent of Schools Sheila Jordan defended the board action – in part. She said their questioning the validity of EPA thresholds and the safety of the tritium releases is entirely appropriate. However, the item should have been scheduled for a full discussion with both sides present, she said. 

Board President Jerome Wiggins agreed to put the issue on the agenda at the board’s next meeting, Jordan said. The meeting is at 7 p.m. April 25, 313 Winton Ave. Hayward. 

LBNL and Lawrence Hall representatives will argue their case at the county school board meeting on April 25. 

Board members heard testimony Tuesday from members of Berkeley’s Coalition to Minimize Toxic Waste, a group of mostly Berkeley residents, who have been working for years to shut down the facility that emits tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen used in medical research. 

This group says that the emissions may dangerous and that the labs need to thoroughly test the air, plants, water and look at the history of emissions – study it beyond the research that has been done – to ascertain whether the levels of tritium present a danger. 

The city of Berkeley has hired an independent consultant to review the labs’ studies. 

Gene Bernardi, of the Committee to Minimize Toxic Waste, said the committee presented the board with documents, including one by Physicians for Social Responsibility, which convinced the board that tritium could have adverse health effects, including those affecting human reproduction. 

Reviewing the school board’s resolution, Kolb said that the board’s statements are misleading. 

The resolution cites a day in 1998 when there was a release of 35 curies of radioactive tritium. Kolb says that the level of emissions, including the level that day, are well below the Environmental Protection Agency’s established standards. 

In another statement, the board says that the EPA “determined that the National Tritium Labeling Facility is eligible for the (designation of a) Superfund priority cleanup site” and notes tritium in air samples at the Lawrence Hall exceeded the limit of the EPA’s cancer risk screening concentration. 

But Kolb explained that, in fact, the data simply put LBNL on a track to do additional studies, which will further determine the level of emissions. The city’s consultant is working to verify the lab’s work in this area and to help determine how and where further testing is to be done. 

Barbara Ando, associate director of Lawrence Hall, has worked on the hill for 20 years, including during two pregnancies. Ando said she has never worried about her health. 

“Tests have been done, monitors are placed at the hall,” she said, adding, “The school board’s actions took us by surprise.”