ENVIRONMENT: MAGILL HALL GETS CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has given a clean bill of health to Southeast Missouri State University's Magill Hall after tests this found radioactive contamination of the science building has been cleaned up.

NRC's inspection brings an end to cleanup work that cost the university $1.1 million.

Using floor monitors, air samplers and hand-held devices, a team of NRC inspectors went through Magill Hall this week to determine if contamination from radioactive americium-241 had been cleaned up by the university's contractor, Science Applications International Corp.

Inspectors began their work Monday by setting up air samplers. The various testing work continued Tuesday and wrapped up Wednesday afternoon. Testing centered on the basement and a second-floor lab where americium-241 contamination was discovered earlier this year.

Initial testing by the NRC team this week found some isolated contamination remained in basement corners. The cleanup contractor cleaned up those isolated spots Tuesday night. Those areas were retested Wednesday and received a clean bill of health, said NRC spokeswoman Pam Alloway-Mueller.

'Safe to inhabit'

The NRC team brought a mobile lab to the campus, which was used to analyze filter paper samples to determine if any contamination problems remained.

Geoff Wright, chief of the materials inspection branch for the NRC's regional office, said the science building has been cleaned to the point that no radiation is registering greater than normal background radiation.

"We believe these areas are completely safe to inhabit," he said.

The NRC expects to deliver a final written report to the university within about 30 days. But the university is free to begin using the basement and the lab room.

Dr. Chris McGowan, dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, welcomed the news.

"It is a sigh of relief to be able to get back in the building," he said.

The university found in February that americium-241 had leaked from a vial in a safe inside a basement storage room. The leak was discovered after an inspection by the NRC.

The cleanup contractor hauled off 30 tons of contaminated materials from the building this fall, including hallway cabinets and seismograph sensors.

With the basement and the lab room largely gutted during the cleanup, McGowan said the university will have to spend "tens of thousands of dollars" to replace lab fixtures, storage cabinets and equipment.