The Rock Island Arsenal site has a long history of military and manufacturing use dating back to the early 1800s. Testing has found contamination from haloacetic acids, alpha particle activity, radium isotopes, and lead at levels above legal limits likely resulting from waste disposal and manufacturing activities over decades. Remediation efforts are ongoing at landfill sites and areas where underground storage tanks were removed, but contamination also exists deeper in the Silurian aquifer. The site was likely used to store radioactive materials during atomic bomb development, possibly explaining some radium contamination found.

1. The Rock Island Arsenal:
Superfund Site Investigation
Nicholas Misner
GEOL-330: Hydrogeology

2. History of RIA
● 1804: Treaty with Sauk and Mesquakie (Fox) Native Americans
● 1816: Fort Armstrong founded to secure American interests
● 1836: Abandoned
● 1840 - 1856: Ordinance Depot until burned down
● 1856: First Bridge, railroad bridge
● Dec. 1863 - July 1865: Confederate PoW Camp
● 1896: Government Bridge

3. Manufacturing History
● RIA Joint Manufacturing and Technology Center (JMTC)
○ 1.5 million ft2
● “Arsenal Row”
● Manufacturing of artillery, gun mounts, recoil mechanisms, small arms,
and spare parts

4. Contamination Data
Data taken by Environmental Working Group, relayed to the N.Y.Times
Total Haloacetic acids (HAAs)
● Above Health limit/Legal Limit: 70/60 tests
● Average result: 35.99ppb/0.035mg/L (Max: 67/0.067mg/L)
○ EPA Maximum Containment Level (MCL): 0.060mg/L
● Common sources: drinking water chlorination
○ Chlorine reacts with naturally occurring organic matter (NOM) in water

5. Contamination Data (cont.)
Alpha Particle Activity
● Above Legal Limits: 15 tests
○ Only really dangerous if ingested
● Average result: 2pCi/L (picoCuries per
Liter), (Max: 2)
○ EPA MCL: 15pCi/L
● Common Source: radioactive substances,
in this case Radium isotopes
Radium Isotopes (Ra-226, -228)
● Above Legal Limits: 5 tests
● Result: 0.90pCi/L
● Common Sources:
○ U-238 → Ra-226 ( =1600yrs.)
○ Th-232 → Ra-228 ( =5.8yrs.)
Lead
● 15 tests Above Legal LimitsAlpha particles are composed of 2p and 2n (He2+
),
released during the radioactive decay of heavy isotopes.

6. Installation Action Plan (IAP), Fiscal Year ‘01
● 3 Sites of Concern:
○ Debris landfills, storage tanks, quarry, training area, storage areas,
burial sites
● 3 Sites Response Complete
● 2 Sites active as of ‘01 survey
● 25 Sites ER,A (Environmental Response, Army) ineligible for
funding
● Since 1900s, 40 USTs for fuel and solvent
○ As of 2001: 33 removed
○ Remaining: 1 Gasoline, 2 Diesel, 1 Used Water-Soluble Cutting Fluid, 1
Used Oil, 2 Reserve for Emergency Fire Suppressant

7. RIA-001: Old Landfill
IAP, FY01:
● 20-acre Landfill
● Dump for industrial wastes, degreaser
sludges, heat-treating salts, electroplating
solutions, sludges, wastewaters
● Active: 1920 - 1965
● 1978: Monitoring wells installed, leachate
extracted and tested

8. RIA-001: Old Landfill
IAP, FY15:
● Additional Concern: RIA-001 Silurian
Aquifer Contamination
○ 2005: deep wells revealed contamination
of Silurian Aquifer
○ Biotreatment and Groundwater Monitoring
planned
Image Credit: water.usgs.gov

9. RIA-014: UST 34
IAP, FY01:
● Contaminant: Polynuclear Aromatic
Hydrocarbon
○ Formed during incomplete burning of
organic substances.
● Past Remediation: removal of 200yd3
of
soil and removal of UST in 1989
● Additional action TBD
IAP, FY15:
● Remediation close to completion

10. RIA-011: Casing Burial Area Munitions Burial
● 1978: six concrete-filled bomb casings similar to 1940s atomic bomb
research discovered. Additional casing located at later date.
● Radiation in the area was twice the background, items shipped to low-level
radioactive waste site as precaution.
Postulate: RIA has been storage site for many decades, including during
development of the A-Bomb. Could some radioactive substances have been
buried here for some reason, resulting in Radium contaminants?

11. References
References
● Anonymous29-Apr-2016, Haloacetic acids (HAAs):
(http://www.env.gov.nl.ca/env/waterres/quality/drinkingwater/haa.html 2016).
● Anonymous2015, ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL Army Defense Environmental Restoration Program
Installation Action Plan: .
● Anonymous2014, (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/trace/radium/Ra_FAQ.html 2016).
● Anonymous2001, INSTALLATION ACTION PLAN For ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL: .
AnonymousRock Island Arsenal:
(http://projects.nytimes.com/toxic-waters/contaminants/il/rock-island/il1615387-rock-island-arse
nal4/6 2016).

12. U-238 into Pb-208
http://www.sluniverse.com/php/vb/science-tech/1
4658-granite-counter-top-radiation-risk.html