An environmental worker at Naval Support Activity Naples in Italy retrieves radon detectors at a base facility, Sept. 22, 2025. The base rejected the results of a yearlong study of radon levels there, and a retest is expected to take at least a year. (Sean Rinner/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — U.S. Naval Support Activity Naples community members will have to wait at least another year to learn whether their on-base workspaces are contaminated with potentially dangerous levels of radon.
The base is rejecting the results of yearlong testing for exposure levels in offices, rooms and other workspaces, NSA Naples commanding officer Capt. John Randazzo said in a statement Tuesday.
Blank control detectors used in the testing were faulty, a finding that indicates a problem with the entire testing process, Randazzo said.
“Because we cannot accept these results, we will conduct a complete re-test of all the affected facilities,” Randazzo said.
NSA Naples is seeking funding to begin retesting as soon as possible, with an anticipated completion date in 2027, according to Randazzo.
The blank detectors used in the base’s 2024-25 evaluation should show radon exposure results below a specific minimum threshold to be valid, Randazzo said.
But 26 of 30 blank detectors in the recent test batch detected radon over that limit, according to a fact sheet accompanying Randazzo’s statement.
Randazzo did not say what the minimum threshold was, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers levels consistently at or above 4.0 picocuries per liter of air hazardous.
Environmental specialists at Naval Support Activity Naples in Italy attach radon detectors in buildings, Aug. 19, 2024. The base rejected the results of a yearlong study of radon levels there due to quality control problems with the detectors. (Josephine Schneider/U.S. Navy)
The base did not release test results for any of the offices, rooms or other on-base facilities in the study, which was done by a government contractor.
The new development is the latest setback in efforts to resolve problems at NSA Naples involving radon, an odorless and colorless gas that is linked to cancer.
In August 2024, a Defense Department Inspector General report revealed that base officials hadn’t notified military personnel and their families that the base had the service’s highest rating for potentially excessive levels of radon.
NSA Naples also didn’t do timely testing for radon at some homes, offices, medical facilities and child care centers as required by Navy policy, the IG found.
And although officials knew about the base’s risk rating for possibly elevated levels of the radioactive gas, they didn’t inform nearly 4,000 military personnel living off base that their homes could be tested, the report stated.
The failures could create a health and safety risk to those stationed at NSA Naples, the IG said.
The investigation was prompted by a whistleblower complaint regarding the base’s handling of its radon management program, particularly in off-base housing.
In response to the IG findings and recommendations, the base launched a campaign using social media, newsletters and other platforms to regularly inform its community about the base’s radon rating.
The effort includes details on where people can get additional information about potential health risks and how to test for radon in their homes. The base also conducted the yearlong radon exposure test.
Radon forms when the radioactive metals uranium, thorium or radium break down naturally in rocks, soil and water. People are exposed to the gas when it seeps through cracks and gaps in buildings, according to the EPA.
Radon levels can be lowered by means ranging from temporary measures like increasing ventilation to adding a professionally installed depressurization system.
