Environmental Pollution at McClellan Air Force Base, USA 1999.08.15

In the United States, where bases are being closed, environmental contamination of the bases, including groundwater and soil, has become a serious problem. In some cases, it has taken more than 50 years to clean up the sites, and there are obstacles to the use of the sites after closure. McClellan Air Force Base is located about 15 minutes by car from downtown Sacramento, the capital of the U.S. state of California, and cleanup efforts are underway to make use of the site before it closes in July 2001. The work is expected to continue until around 2034, as it will take as long as it takes to remove the contamination that has been left in place for more than 40 years. The environmental contamination was first detected 20 years ago, when groundwater contamination was discovered at an eh field outside the base and the base was investigated. Numerous toxic substances, including trichloroethylene, borychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), dioxin, and radioactive materials were detected in the groundwater and soil destruction. The contamination was caused by the untreated dripping of cleaning solutions from aircraft parts and the dumping of hazardous materials, which were then simply covered with soil. A vacuum cleaner-like machine has been developed to suck up the toxic substances in the ground and break them down into salt, CO2, etc. However, the area that can be covered is only about 60 meters, so it will be 35 years before about 15 square kilometers of land is cleaned up. The total cost until then will amount to 1.1 billion dollars.