Red Gate Woods: History's First Radioactive Dust Bin

"CAUTION -- DO NOT DIG": stone marker at Red Gate Woods, marking field where Fermi's radioactive wastes are buriedAt the request of the organizing committee for the "Mountain of Radioactive Waste 70 Years High: Ending the Nuclear Age" conference in Chicago this weekend, Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps wrote a backgrounder on the history of the radioactive waste dump at Red Gate Woods, a forest preserve in southwest Chicago. Enrico Fermi's Chicago Pile-1 (the first atomic reactor in the world) radioactive wastes were buried there, and have been leaking out ever since.

On Monday, December 3rd the conference organizers are undertaking a fact-finding trip to the site, radiation monitors in hand. They will also leave radiation hazard markers behind, to warn bicyclists, hikers, and families having picnics about the radioactive wastes in their midst at the public park.