The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) has pledged to clean-up contaminated land at Hobsonville airport prior to the land being sold for commercial development or housing.
See a Google Street View of the area
In 2001 the NZDF commissioned a audit of the base which revealed that some areas were "slightly contaminated with radioactivity from old, buried instruments and other areas were contaminated with heavy metals and other pollutants." Those pollutants include lead and copper in the shooting range, spilled oil and other chemicals.
The radioactivity comes from radium 266 used in luminous markings and it has already been deposited in containers. In the 1950s burying such instruments was an accepted disposal method.
Remediation work will include the removal of soil to a licensed disposal facility and cleaning of some areas.
Source NZ Herald
Many sites in the Auckland region are also contaminated with chemicals left behind from agricultural activities which caused a furore recently. More to follow on this....
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