Illinois Couple Leave Home Contaminated with Radioactive Thorium

September 15, 2007 - More than three weeks after learning their home was an environmental hazard, Sandy and Rich Riess are getting out.

On Aug. 22, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials informed the company that tests showed the Riess home was contaminated with Kerr-McGee thorium, causing more than 300 times the safe level of radiation.

Until Friday, Tronox lawyers hadn't responded to requests from Mark Sargis, the Riesses' attorney, to move the couple out.

Tronox representatives had said only that they needed to examine the home and create a cleanup plan -- a process that could take six weeks, Sargis said.

More . . .