Queens Site May Be Added to Superfund List The former site of Wolff-Alport Chemical Company in Ridgewood, Queens, which now is home to an auto repair shop, a deli and other businesses, might face elevated radiation levels. The site of a defunct chemical company in Ridgewood, Queens, that was involved in atom-bomb research will "very likely" be added to the federal Superfund list, an Environmental Protection Agency official said on Wednesday. High radioactivity readings at the site, once used by the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company, prompted the agency to officially propose on Wednesday that the area be added to the list of the most contaminated hazardous waste sites in the nation. After 60 days of public comments, the agency will make a final decision. "We've taken a very hard look at it," the agency's regional administrator, Judith A. Enck, said in a conference call. This will very likely be added to the federal Superfund list. If the site - which now includes an auto repair shop, a deli and other businesses - is added to the list, the agency will conduct a deeper study of the area, where the chemical company, which closed in 1954, used to dump thorium and uranium. "Our process is to investigate in detail and then propose a cleanup plan," Ms. Enck said. It may very well involve a lot of digging and a lot of removal. Businesses would be relocated only if necessary. A federal study last year determined that workers at the site might face elevated levels of radiation. Walter Mugdan, the agency's regional Superfund director, said that very little study of sewer contamination at the site had been done and that that would be a focus if it was included on the list. Investigation would also extend to a public school and day care center about two blocks from the site, though radiation readings at both places have been deemed safe, Mr. Mugdan said. It is unlikely that contamination from the former chemical company spread far beyond the buildings, but soil from the site may have been moved or unknowingly used elsewhere, officials said. The agency, which has already spent about $2 million on safety precautions at the site, said it did not know what the cleanup process would cost. If it is included on the list, the site would be the third active New York City Superfund site, including the Gowanus Canal and Newtown Creek.