No radioactive contamination was found in a second round of groundwater testing near a former University of California, Davis, low-level radiation research facility, according to the state Department of Health Services and an environmental consulting company hired by UC Davis. The university had requested additional testing of groundwater on private property near the former Laboratory for Energy-Related Health Research site in September when preliminary tests indicated the presence of minute levels of tritium -- a radioactive form of hydrogen commonly used in laboratory tests -- in two tests spots roughly 1,500 feet from the edge of the rural LEHR site. Campus officials reported the preliminary results to the public at that time and requested that the state Department of Health Services participate in a second round of testing in September and October to confirm the findings. The earlier identification of tritium may have been due to an error in the handling or analysis of the two samples in the first round of testing, according to Steve Eckberg, who oversees UC Davis environmental assessment and cleanup operations under way at LEHR. The two tritium measurements -- which were 13 and 21 times below the level set as the drinking water limit -- could have been in error by as much as 50 percent, because of the nature of the tests. "This time we requested the use of a more sophisticated laboratory test on the second round of samples in order to receive more accurate information about possible contamination," Eckberg said. If radioactive contamination had been found, it would have been the first time that radioactive material in higher than naturally occurring concentrations was identified in groundwater off campus property. The Sacramento office of the consulting firm Dames & Moore handled both rounds of testing. The relatively new technology used by Dames & Moore to collect the groundwater samples -more- 2-2-2 LEHR Tests will help the campus identify possible sites for the installation of additional monitoring wells. This technology allows workers to "punch" through the ground temporarily with a test device and collect water samples at depths of 75 to 95 feet. Although these samples provide helpful screening information, long-term monitoring wells are considered the best method for tracking and measuring any contamination. UC Davis and the U.S. Department of Energy are in the midst of a multiyear assessment and cleanup of the LEHR site, where for more than 30 years DOE-funded scientists studied the health effects of exposure to low levels of radiation. Also located on the 15-acre site are an inactive campus sanitary landfill, closed in 1966, and several inactive campus and LEHR disposal sites for low-level radioactive wastes, which were closed in 1974. Extensive soil and groundwater testing has been under way for more than four years at LEHR, located a mile south of the main UC Davis campus. Since 1988, the campus has publicly reported finding elevated levels of nitrates, the trace metal hexavalent chromium, tritium, carbon 14 and organic chemicals in test wells on the LEHR site. Quarterly testing of domestic wells on nearby private property since 1989 has shown elevated levels of nitrates and chromium, whose source is unclear. The campus has been supplying these neighbors with drinking water since 1989. In the second round of testing, 23 samples were collected from locations on the LEHR site and nearby surrounding private property. Duplicate samples were taken at the locations where tritium had been identified in the first round of testing. (Two spots on private property and one on the LEHR site). The state Department of Health Services analyzed the extra samples, and the university's consultant handled samples from all the locations. With the exception of the tritium, the second round of results was similar to those in the first round of testing, with findings of trace levels of some organic chemicals and chromium below drinking water standards and one sample off the LEHR site with nitrate above drinking water standards. The latest testing confirmed the presence of tritium in groundwater on the LEHR site. According to Ed Bailey, head of the radiological health branch of the state Department of Health Services, the state found no tritium above natural background levels in the samples state workers tested.