BARNWELL, S.C. --- A new federal study says Savannah River Site isn't contaminating nearby water supplies -- at least not enough to make anyone sick.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry reported no significant signs of contamination at SRS nor imminent health risks to groundwater sites nearby, noting that though "site-related contaminants were detected in off-site surface water, they posed no health concern."

The report, dated Dec. 17, is a final assessment by the agency -- part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- on SRS's 310-acre area.

SRS was placed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Priorities List in 1989 because of chemical and radiological groundwater contamination on SRS property, according to Carol Connell, a health physicist assigned to the study.

In its evaluation, the agency found no contamination beyond the border nor in any off-site private wells.

However, on-site contamination was found along SRS's northwest boundary, which could seep into off-site groundwater sources in the future.

Surface water releases of tritium -- a radioactive form of hydrogen -- and other contaminants haven't caused any health problems since 1993, and they shouldn't pose any risks so long as SRS monitors its operations, according to the study findings.

Tritium leakage into private water systems has been an issue for Chem-Nuclear, the 235-acre, low-level nuclear waste facility in Barnwell County which sits adjacent to SRS in Snelling.

However, water samples taken by both Chem-Nuclear and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control showed either no tritium or levels too low to endanger health.

"That merely confirms what we have known all along," said Chem-Nuclear Vice President Jim Latham of the new report. "This sounds very consistent to our findings." The study is encouraging because it "lets science drive the debate, not the alarmists."