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All the United States New York State New York City Queens Primo Autobody Repair
Primo Autobody Repair is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Primo Autobody Repair

The most radioactive spot in New York City can also fix your muffler.

Queens, New York

Added By
Eric Grundhauser
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Primo Autobody Repair   GoogleMaps
Primo Autobody Repair   GoogleMaps
Welded steel plate on the sidewalk   Anna Minster / Atlas Obscura User
Installation of lead shielding   US EPA
  wherearewedude / Atlas Obscura User
The current location   knoxium / Atlas Obscura User
  knoxium / Atlas Obscura User
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About

You might imagine the most radioactive place in New York City to be some sort of rogue lab or weapons dump, but the truth is that it is a nondescript Queens auto shop called Primo Autobody Repair.

The small repair shop has earned the ignominious distinction not from any fault of its own, but thanks to the land the business is built on. The shop operates out of a 100-year-old structure that was once home to the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company, a firm which specialized in removing rare earth minerals from sand.

One of the byproducts of their operation was a highly radioactive substance known as Thorium. In the beginning, the Thorium was poured into the sewers or buried underground. However, eventually, Thorium was used as fuel in nuclear weapons and people began purchasing the material from Wolff-Alport, giving them more reason to produce it. When the nuclear demand dried up, the overstock Thorium was once again simply buried or dumped. This left the ground under and around the shop veritably glowing with emanating radiation.

Even today, the radiation in the ground continues to contaminate the site. It is estimated that workers in the Primo shop received three times the safe amount of radiation each year. Protection was put in place between October 2012 and April 2014. Lead shielding, capped with a layer of concrete, was installed inside three buildings and a steel plate was welded in place on top of the sidewalk.

Note that as of 06/2024 The shop has been relocated to Brooklyn and the area is closed down by the EPA for cleanup.

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Radioactive Shops

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The site is permanently closed

Community Contributors

Added By

EricGrundhauser

Edited By

NickP, knoxium, Anna Minster, wherearewedude

  • NickP
  • knoxium
  • Anna Minster
  • wherearewedude

Published

May 12, 2014

Edit this listing

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Sources
  • https://qns.com/2023/09/last-businesses-exit-queens-superfund-site/
  • http://www.newyorker.com/sandbox/projects/radioactive-nyc/
  • http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/09/new-york-city-radiation_n_5290106.html?utm_hp_ref=green
  • http://www.bkmag.com/tag/ridgewood/
  • http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20131022/bushwick/businesses-at-former-atomic-bomb-site-hurt-by-work-limit-radiation
  • https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0206479
Primo Autobody Repair
1127 Irving Ave.
Queens, New York
United States
40.692458, -73.90243
Get Directions

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