On, June 10, Berkeley residents & activists gathered at Berkeley City Hall to protest UC Berkeley's plan to pulverize LBNL's Bevatron structure. Protesters are worried about the environmental and health impacts of the University's plans to demolish, and haul away, the Bevatron and its contents. The demolished structure will contain radioactive materials, asbestos, lead, mercury, PCBs, and chlorinated VOCs. Some of the radioactive materials include Cobalt 60, Cesium 137, and Europium 154. Radioactive energy form Cobalt 60 can be 59 times greater in intensity than that of an ordinary X-ray. The waste material is scheduled to be hauled by thousands of heavily loaded uncovered trucks down Hearst Avenue to Oxford Avenue, south on Oxford to University Ave and from there onto I-80.

Protesters say that an alternative to the demolition would be to allow the Bevatron and its contamination to remain onsite in relative containment. Onsite containment will allow the radioactivity to decay in place and not be hauled away to other communities.

Photos | Wikipedia Article On The Bevatron | Bevatron Shutdown In Nostalgic Ceremony