A former low-level radiation research facility undergoing cleanup a mile south of the main campus of the University of California, Davis, has been placed on the federal Superfund list by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. Department of Energy and UC Davis say they will cooperate fully with EPA. The former Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research site became a potential candidate for listing in 1991 due to groundwater contamination detected during preliminary investigations. EPA placed the site on its proposed Superfund list this past January. "We look forward to EPA joining our team as we continue our progress in cleaning up this facility," said Larry McEwen, acting DOE project manager for the site. For more than 30 years the 15-acre LEHR site was the location of DOE-funded animal studies of the long-term health effects of exposure to low-level radiation. Also at the LEHR site, which is surrounded mostly by farms and other campus research facilities, are an inactive campus sanitary landfill and several former disposal areas for low-level radioactive wastes. In 1989, two years before the final DOE research contract ended, DOE and UC Davis began conducting preliminary investigations of groundwater and soil in the area; the second phase of these studies was completed last year. In 1990, DOE added LEHR to its five-year planning process for facilities' cleanup and began cleanup activities at the site. DOE has since surveyed and released to campus researchers 11 of 16 buildings on site, removed the last remains of radioactive research animals from the site, processed and disposed of approximately 34,000 gallons of low-level radioactive water and sludge from underground tanks, removed a device called a cobalt-60 irradiator, and cleaned three of the five remaining buildings (currently awaiting independent confirmation before release). This fall, DOE initiated the planning of a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) of the groundwater and soil to identify in greater detail any possible sources of contamination and evaluate cleanup options. So far, studies have detected -- in shallow groundwater under and adjacent to the site -- carbon 14, tritium, chromium, nitrate, a few volatile organic chemicals and chlorinated pesticides. Concentrations of chromium, nitrate, tritium and some volatile organic chemicals are above drinking water standards in a few of the test wells.