The treatment and packaging of approximately 34,000 gallons of low-level radioactive sludge and water stored at a research facility one mile south of the main University of California, Davis, campus is nearly complete, and shipment of the material is scheduled to begin the week of Jan. 27. The disposal of the waste -- expected to take place in two stages -- marks a major step in the environmental assessment and cleanup of the former Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research (LEHR) site by the U.S. Department of Energy and UC Davis. During the weeks of Jan. 27 and Feb. 3, a total of 480 55-gallon drums filled with the solidified waste will be transported to the DOE low-level radioactive waste disposal site in Hanford, Wash. An additional 300 drums and two, 200-cubic-foot steel cylinders (used in the treatment process) are scheduled for shipment in mid-February. The Missouri-based, DOE-contractor Tri-State Motor Transit has been hired to transport the drums by truck, following all state and federal environmental and safety guidelines. The sludge and water are the remaining byproducts of two specially designed waste-processing systems built at LEHR to handle the low-level radioactive wastes of research animals used in studies of the health effects of exposure to radiation. The 33-year project, which involved mostly dogs, was one of several similar projects supported by DOE at various U.S. research institutions. During the years of active DOE research at the site (the waste systems were last used in 1986), the sludge generated by the waste-processing systems was removed periodically from underground storage tanks when necessary and shipped to a licensed radioactive waste site. The entire disposal operation will clear the tanks of what remained. The emptied tanks will be decontaminated if necessary at a later stage in the project. -more- 2-2-2 Sludge Disposal The concentration of radioactivity in the sludge and water is very low. It consists mostly of about 200 millicuries of strontium 90 and about 4 millicuries of radium 226. Treatment and packaging of the sludge began in late September, when the South Carolina-based DOE-contractor Chem-Nuclear Environmental Services Inc. set up operations along the western edge of the 15-acre LEHR site. The estimated cost of treatment, packaging, shipping and disposal of the waste is $1.2 million, which is being funded by DOE.