That’s “Kills” As In “Body Of Water” . . .

The GAO reports “large quantities of radium” in Great Kills Park:

High levels of radium were found in Gateway National Recreation Area in Great Kills when anti-terrorism officials conducted a helicopter survey of city radiation sources last summer to prepare for potential terrorist attacks using so-called dirty radiation bombs, but that fact was revealed only yesterday in a congressional survey.

The aerial survey found 80 unexpected radiation “hot spots” around the city, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, which stated that the NYPD had singled out “a local park” that was “contaminated by large quantities of radium.”

NYPD officials confirmed that the park was Gateway’s Great Kills Park, a portion of which served as a city landfill until the 1930s. It became federal parkland in 1972.

A piece of metal equipment — possibly part of an old X-ray machine — was found underground on Aug. 2, 2005, and it was removed the next day from a portion of an area between the Great Kills Ranger station and the model airplane field, said Tom O’Connell, site manager for the park. An investigation by federal environmental officials found that the radiation levels posed no current risk to human health, according to officials with close knowledge of the survey.

. . .

Vincent Scavuzzo, another Great Kills resident, said he’s skeptical that everything is OK. But Scavuzzo added that the news would not stop him from taking daily walks in the park with his wife, Toni.

“I don’t like the idea that they found something like that,” he said. “Maybe they should do some testing, test the soil, test the water. Anything that’s around here, they should do tests.”

Elaine Borruso agreed.

“You’d hate to think you could come into contact with [radiological material],” she said, adding that she wants the National Park Service to do more testing.

Officials downplayed the threat:

O’Connell, who worked with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy during the investigation, said people should not worry about the news.

“It is no more harmful for a human than having a cigarette on a sunny day,” said O’Connell, who was present during the EPA and DOE’s investigation. “But the only way it would have that effect is if you were sitting in the hole [where the equipment was found].”