Laboratory for Energy Related Health Research occupies 15 acres surrounded by campus facilities and private land. A levee along Putah Creek borders LEHR to the south. UC Davis owns the LEHR land and leases the site to DOE, which built and owns LEHR's facilities. The DOE commissioned a 33 year long study on the long term effects of exposure to low levels of radiation on laboratory animals.

In May 1994 the area's groundwater was identified as being contaminated. This resulted in the EPA putting the site on the National Priorities list and scheduling it for clean up. Frozen radioactive animal remains were taken from the site's storage refrigerators, packed in drums and sent to Hanford. Later approximately 34,000 gallons of low-level radioactive water and sludge from underground tanks were solidified and taken to Hanford. Sixteen buildings on the site were scheduled for decontamination and decommissioning. The low-level wastes removed from these buildings were packaged and sent to a Hanford.

References

http://safetyservices.ucdavis.edu/environmental-health-safety/environmental/lehr-superfund-site/fact-sheets/site-assessment-and-cleanup