Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Eve Andree Laramee's Project Visualizing Radioactive Ohio Groundwater




Interdisciplinary artist, Eve Andree Laramee, has launched a project examining the environmental and toxological impacts of releases of radioactive materials into the Ohio Groundwater near the former Fernald Uranium Feed Plant.

In 2009, New York based artist, Eve Andree Laramee proposed to the Akron University "Synapse", a project focusing on groundwater, well water and aquifer water polluted with radioactive isotopes by four sites in Ohio: Fernald, Mound, Ashtabula, and Portsmouth. Laramee proposed a series of visionary projects that address water issues in Ohio. Numerous sites and watersheds have been affected by radiotoxins in this region of the Unites States by Department of Defense facilities for producing nuclear weapons.

In 2011, the Synapse funded a residency for Laramee to work with two computer scientists, Kalyan Thokala and Yingcai Xiao. Using data from the Department of Energy database, they mapped the sample wells by depth, where the following radioactive isotopes were detected: plutonium, uranium, radium, thorium, technicium. These radioactive isotopes have entered the Great Miami Aquifer. The Fernald site is surrounded by agricultural land. The next step in our project will use data from wells on the surrounding agricultural areas.

The final map project will show the extent of the radioactive plume underground.

The project title is "Invisible Fire" and is part of a larger series of works which comprise a national atlas of radioactive waste sites.

Copyright 2011 Eve Andree Laramee. All rights reserved.