Radon normally enters buildings through cracks and sump holes in basements and foundations. Radon is an invisible, odorless gas that occurs naturally in soil and rock and is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Initial tests by DEP at Ron’s Rental found elevated radon levels in a building that also housed students of Lock Haven University.Īt that time, Robert Yowell, then DEP Northcentral Regional director, said the elevated levels of radon posed no immediate health threats to the students living there.Īlthough DEP’s initial investigation found radium contamination in the soil outside the building, initial measurements inside the apartments showed only two isolated spots with levels above naturally-occurring background radiation. The survey centered on an area west of the site used for rental storage units, soil beneath the concrete floor within a small area of the Lock Haven Court apartments located south of the site, and soil beneath the pavement along Third Avenue east of the site. The initial cleanup and demolition came after residual radium contamination was uncovered on Ron’s Rental property and other nearby properties, according to DEP. The tenants will then be relocated and DEP will proceed with the final remediation phase.īoth demolition and construction will be funded by HSCA at a cost of about $2.4 million. (NCCDC) to ensure tenants will be relocated in the most efficient manner possible.Ī legal agreement between NCCDC and DEP will reimburse NCCDC for the purchase of property currently belonging to the Clinton County Housing Authority and allow for the construction of a new apartment building to house the tenants.Ī second agreement will reimburse NCCDC for construction costs of the new building. The department is working with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and property owner Northern Cambria Community Development Corp. While checking to make sure the Third Avenue cleanup was completed, residual radium contamination was found at five neighboring properties. It also has cleaned up the second Karnish site in the city, on East Water Street near the airport. In 2011-12, all impacted soil outside the footprint of the apartment building and from the four other properties was excavated and disposed of at a low-level radioactive waste facility in Idaho at a cost of about $5.5 million.ĭEP has already razed the former Karnish building, which later became Ron’s Rental, on Third Avenue, cleaning up contaminated soil there. where that company had manufactured and refurbished aircraft dials painted with radium-containing paint from 1956 until about 1979.ĭEP began the initial remediation in 2008, and later conducted an investigation of four adjacent properties that had also been impacted.
The Lock Haven Court apartment building is next to the former Karnish property at 210 Third Ave. The next remediation phase will involve the construction of a new apartment building, which will be followed by demolition of the existing apartment building so that an isolated area of radium-contaminated soil can be removed.
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