Pennsylvania DEP, EPA to Oversee, Monitor Clean Up Work at Armstrong County Site
To: ENVIRONMENTAL EDITORS
Contact: Helen Humphreys of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, +1-412-442-4183
LEECHBURG, Pa.,Feb. 12/PRNewswire-USNewswire/– During a site visit and tour of the shallow land disposal area in Park Township, Armstrong County, Environmental Protection Deputy Secretary Tom Fidler today outlined how the department will work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and federal Environmental Protection Agency to clean up the radiological waste disposed at the facility.
Fidler said now that funding has been appropriated, a tremendous opportunity exists to benefit the community.
It is important to seize the opportunity now that Congress has provided the Corps of Engineers the funding to support this clean up, said Fidler. We are prepared to work with the EPA to oversee remediation activities at this site to ensure that it is once again an asset to the community, rather than a liability.
The U.S. Congress appropriated funds and authorized the Corps of Engineers to clean up the site under the Formerly Utilized Remedial Action Program.Funding constraints within the program, though, may extend the length of the project by up to five years if work needs to be conducted in phases. Alternatively, ranking the site as an EPA Superfund project could force remediation work to take 10-20 years.
Fidler said DEP will play an instrumental role in working with the Corps to develop the appropriate permits for onsite wastewater treatment and discharge. As established in an agreement between the state and the Corps, DEPs Bureau of Radiation Protection will work closely with the Armys engineers to ensure the proper and thorough removal and transport of any radiologically contaminated soils and any radiological waste mixed with chemical waste to an authorized disposal site.
DEP and EPA will review any proposed clean up plans and actions, and will jointly track progress, monitor sampling, and review on- site non-radiological contamination data.
The Park Township shallow land disposal area, or SLDA, consists of 10 trenches within a 1.2-acre area that were used to dispose of low-level radioactive waste. The waste is believed to consist primarily of items such as contaminated protective clothing like booties and gloves, containers, and obsolete equipment once used at the adjacent BWX Technologys former Parks Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Facility.
Because hazardous materials may have mixed with low-level radioactive waste, DEP has notified Army Corps that all wastes must be characterized. Mixed wastes and hazardous wastes not contaminated with radiation must also be removed from the trenches, characterized, transported and properly disposed.
DEP also has notified the Corps that no radiologically contaminated soil from the SLDA may be disposed of in a Pennsylvania solid waste facility.
Once the Corps of Engineers completes clean up work, the site will be sampled and characterized to determine if additional remediation work is required.
If sampling shows that residual non-radiological contamination exists above acceptable levels after the radioactive materials have been removed, BWX Technology will be expected — and if necessary ordered — to complete the cleanup, said Fidler.
Work at the Park Township SLDA follows the successful removal of uranium-laden ash from the nearby Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authoritys treatment plant. The ash was found in the treatment plants lagoon, which had received wastewater flow from the former Babcock & Wilcox facility.
The ash was removed and transported to a licensed out-of-state facility for proper disposal under an agreement DEP had brokered with the authority and BWX Technology of Lynchburg, Va. The Kiski Valley authority and BWX bore the nearly $2.6 million cost for out- of-state transportation and waste disposal, as well as expenses associated with closing the lagoon site in 2007.
CONTACT:Helen Humphreys (412) 442-4183
SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
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