FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 10, 2025
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Contact: Jeff Ruch (510) 213-7028 [email protected]
Plutonium at Hunters Point Signifies Botched Cleanup
Discovery of Fission Byproducts Is Latest Fiasco at Troubled Superfund Site
Washington, DC —Nearly a year after it detected dangerous levels of plutonium-laden dust on its Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the U.S. Navy finally disclosed summary findings to the San Francisco Department of Public Health. This is just the latest in a long series of scandals to beset what is supposed to be the largest redevelopment project in San Francisco history, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
Due to profound radiological contamination from fallout and experimentation, the 866-acre Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has been undergoing remediation since 1989 under supervision of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Superfund program.
This October, the Navy informed the San Francisco Department of Public Health that an air sample collected in November 2024 at the former shipyard “detected airborne plutonium (Pu-239) at a level above the established ‘Action Level’,” per a community bulletin issued by the city. Plutonium-259 is one of the most lethal substances on earth; it is a fission byproduct with a half-life of more than 24,000 years. An action level is the threshold for applying protective measures.
But the Navy has not revealed more than a terse summary to the city, which is demanding full documentation from both the Navy and EPA. In addition, the Navy has claimed that it only reports plutonium and other fission byproducts above “background levels” but does not explain why there would be any background levels of these fission isotopes.
“After all these years, the Hunters Point site has not been thoroughly characterized, meaning that we still do not know how many more toxic shoes, like the discovery of plutonium dust, have yet to drop,” stated PEER Senior Counsel Jeff Ruch, noting EPA has declined to require the Navy to pursue a more rigorous approach. “EPA is technically in charge of this cleanup but has failed to exercise effective oversight, leaving Hunters Point a zombie Superfund site, lurching between periodic announced milestones of claimed progress followed by embarrassing new revelations.”
In 2018, PEER revealed that much of the soil sampling results on the site had been falsified and in 2021 joined the Committee to Bridge the Gap, and other groups, in recommending steps EPA should take. However, EPA did not act. At the same time, PEER is still pressing the Navy to explain the discovery of Strontium-90 and radioactive instruments on the site.
Despite this succession of snafus, there have been no independent reviews of the Hunters Point cleanup. Meanwhile, a major suit by residents challenging EPA’s compliance with Superfund requirements for protecting public health and the environment is pending in federal court.
“A critical question remains as to how contaminated EPA will allow Hunters Point to remain,” Ruch added, pointing out the fact that many hope the Hunters Point redevelopment will help ease San Francisco’s housing crisis, but EPA has not committed to ensuring the site will ever be suitable for residential use. “Since it cannot rely on EPA, it will be up to San Francisco to insist that Hunters Point is safely habitable before any parcel is returned to civilian use.”
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Read the SF Public Health Department community bulletin
View PowerPoint detailing deficiencies with HPNS cleanup
See repeated denial of IG reviews
Look at methodological games the Navy plays
Examine pending Superfund lawsuit by residents
PEER protects public employees who protect our environment. We are a service organization for environmental and public health professionals, land managers, scientists, enforcement officers and other civil servants dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values. We work with current and former federal, state, local and tribal employees.
