ABSTRACT
For over a half-century, the U.S. Department of Energy nuclear weapons
laboratory in Livermore, California, has worked with plutonium in the course of
its mission to research and develop nuclear weapons. Plutonium releases via the
laboratory’s sewer system resulted in the contamination of sewage sludge that
was distributed and used widely as soil conditioner in parks, landscaping around
public buildings, and in home lawns and gardens. The amount of sludge dis-
tributed and the concentration of the radioactivity in the sludge are uncertain.
