[Note: Please see correction published August 18, 2011]
http://alamedapointinfo.com/stories/alameda-sun-correction-no-radium-pre...

Excerpt:

A bus tour of Alameda Point was held on Saturday, July 18 to give civilians insight into the Navy's current cleanup project on the former base. The Navy is scheduled to remove radiological contaminants from both groundwater and soil through 2013, and has already made great headway. Tour stops included Building 1, Operable Unit 2B, Site 17, Site 1, and Building 5.

Alameda Point became Navy property in 1936 after Congress authorized Franklin Delano Roosevelt to purchase the land for $1. The Alameda Naval Base played an important role in World War II and was nicknamed the Navy's "Aviation Gateway to the Pacific," as one of the nation's biggest air stations at the time.

The base officially closed on April 25, 1997. In May 2007, the city of Alameda negotiated a deal with the Navy with an offer to buy the land for $108 million. However, many parts of the base are still contaminated and are considered unsafe for human health and plant and animal life. Contaminants include metal, pesticides, petroleum and oil, polychlorinated biphenals (PCBs) and radium.