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Superfund / NPL site · EPA Superfund SEMS through latest publishNPL FinalFEDERAL FACILITY

Brookhaven National Laboratory (Usdoe)

This site is currently on the EPA Superfund National Priorities List and remains under federal cleanup oversight. Most-cited contaminant of concern: Cesium-137.

53 Bell Ave, Upton, New York · ZIP 11961 · EPA ID NY7890008975

See Suffolk ContaminantsEquity contextHow we read Superfund data
CLEANUP TIMELINE

Listing-date and cleanup-phase enrichment from EPA's per-site SEMS profile is queued for a follow-up ingest pass. Until then, this section will populate from EPA's published timeline data.

Anomaly engine

Notable Signals

No notable signals at this Superfund site for the current ingest. Cleanup-phase and SEMS-action flags are deferred to a follow-up engineering pass.

Contaminants of concern · per EPA SEMS

What's In This Site

Each row pairs a contaminant with the medium it was found in (the exposure pathway). Hover any named contaminant for an agency-cited health-risk summary. Cited count = number of SEMS decision records (RODs and related) that name the pair.

ContaminantPathwayCited
Cesium-137Health riskBeta/gamma emitter (half-life ~30 yr); whole-body irradiator; legacy of nuclear weapons fallout and reactor accidents. (EPA)Soil3
1,1,1-TrichloroethaneHealth riskMethyl chloroform. CNS depressant; ozone-depleting substance phased out under Montreal Protocol. EPA MCL 200 µg/L. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater2
MercuryHealth riskNeurotoxin. Methylmercury bioaccumulates up the food chain and damages the developing nervous system. (EPA, ATSDR)Soil2
TrichloroetheneHealth riskTCE. IARC Group 1 carcinogen — kidney cancer; suspected liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. EPA MCL 5 µg/L; common DNAPL groundwater plume contaminant. (IARC, EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater2
TritiumHealth riskHydrogen-3 (beta emitter, half-life ~12.3 yr); travels with water and is hard to remove from groundwater. EPA MCL 20,000 pCi/L. (EPA)Groundwater2
1,1-DichloroethaneHealth riskSuspected carcinogen (EPA C/likely); CNS depressant. Common at solvent-contaminated sites as a degradation intermediate. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater1
1,1-DichloroetheneHealth riskVinylidene chloride; IARC Group 3 (inadequate evidence in humans) but liver toxic in animal studies; common TCE/PCE biodegradation product. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
1,2-DibromoethaneGroundwater1
1,2-DichlorobenzeneHealth riskLiver and kidney effects from chronic exposure. EPA MCL 600 µg/L. (EPA, ATSDR)Groundwater1
1,2-Dichloroethene (Cis And Trans Mixture)Groundwater1
AcetoneHealth riskLow chronic toxicity; high acute exposure causes CNS depression and respiratory irritation. (EPA, NIOSH)Soil1
AluminumHealth riskInhaled aluminum fumes can cause lung scarring (aluminosis); high cumulative exposure has been linked to neurological effects. (NIOSH)Surface Water1
AsbestosHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen. Causes mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. (IARC, EPA)Buildings/Structures1
BenzeneHealth riskIARC Group 1 carcinogen. Long-term inhalation causes leukemia and bone-marrow disorders. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
Benzo(B)FluorantheneSoil1
Benzo[A]PyreneHealth riskPAH; IARC Group 1 carcinogen; the prototypical PAH used to benchmark PAH-mixture cancer risk. EPA MCL 0.2 µg/L. (IARC, EPA)Soil1
CadmiumSediment1
CadmiumSurface Water1
Carbon TetrachlorideHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; liver toxic. EPA MCL 5 µg/L. Banned for most uses since 1986. (IARC, EPA)Groundwater1
Cesium-137Health riskBeta/gamma emitter (half-life ~30 yr); whole-body irradiator; legacy of nuclear weapons fallout and reactor accidents. (EPA)Sludge1
ChloroethaneGroundwater1
ChryseneSoil1
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Sediment1
CopperHealth riskInhaled copper fumes cause metal-fume fever; chronic ingestion above EPA's 1.3 mg/L action level damages the liver. (EPA)Surface Water1
EthylbenzeneHealth riskIARC Group 2B possible carcinogen; eye and respiratory irritant. (IARC)Groundwater1
Europium-152Soil1
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Buildings/Structures1
LeadHealth riskNeurotoxin. Even low childhood exposure impairs cognitive development; chronic adult exposure damages kidneys and the cardiovascular system. (EPA, ATSDR)Sediment1
MercuryHealth riskNeurotoxin. Methylmercury bioaccumulates up the food chain and damages the developing nervous system. (EPA, ATSDR)Buildings/Structures1
MercuryHealth riskNeurotoxin. Methylmercury bioaccumulates up the food chain and damages the developing nervous system. (EPA, ATSDR)Sediment1

Showing the top 30 pairs by SEMS citation count. 19 additional (contaminant, pathway) pairs are recorded for this site.

Drinking-water linkage · SDWIS

No Groundwater PWSes Serving Communities Within 3 Miles

No SDWIS public water systems drawing groundwater (or mixed sources) serve a community whose centroid sits within 3 miles of this site. Empty results are not a guarantee of non-impact — distance is computed to served-place centroids, and SDWIS does not expose individual wellhead locations.

Methodology: served-city centroid (TIGER 2020) is used as the PWS coordinate. Source-water classification from SDWIS primary_source_code; only groundwater and mixed-source systems are queried. Click any system above for its full SDWIS profile.

Equity context · ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics

Who Lives Near This Site

Within 1 mile of this site (1 Census block groups, population-weighted demographics): a population of 39. Why we surface this →

POPULATION SHARE
0.0%

Low-income

POPULATION SHARE
89.7%

People of color

POPULATION SHARE
0.0%

Under age 5

POPULATION SHARE
0.0%

Over age 64

Source: Census ACS 2018-2022 block-group demographics, population-weighted across the 1-mile buffer around this site (from USEPA-clone/EJAM-open blockgroupstats). NPL site proximity contributes to the national EJ pattern; indicator-level percentile and disparity scores are surfaced on the county page and the state page.

Source. EPA Superfund Enterprise Management System (SEMS) · retrieved 2026-05-07. SEMS is a federal public-domain dataset under 17 USC §105.

What this is not. We report EPA's published Superfund record — site listing, status, and contaminants of concern as named in EPA's decision documents. We do not perform site visits, independent air or water sampling, or current-state health-risk assessment. NPL listing reflects EPA's Hazard Ranking Score at a point in time; it does not by itself describe present-day exposure.