Popular US nature spot is as radioactive as Chernobyl, says expert

Acid Canyon in New Mexico is a popular hiking and biking trail near the birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos , New Mexico .

Water samples along the trail contained radioactive measurements as high as 86 picocuries-per-liter (pCi/L) compared to the accepted EPA safety threshold of 50p /L.

Biochemist Michael Ketterer , a professor emeritus at Northern Arizona University , collected the data in an effort led by Nuclear Watch New Mexico , to gather samples this past July , during a rainy season that often results in isolated downpours and storm water runoff.

Acid Canyon is one of several tributaries that pass through San Ildefonso Pueblo lands on their way to the Rio Grande .

Liquid wastes from nuclear research at Los Alamos National Lab were piped into the canyon from 1943 to 1964 .

The federal government began a clean-up of the canyon in the late 1960s , but it eventually transferred the land to LA County .

Government officials determined in the 1980s that conditions within the area met DOE standards and were protective of human health.