Karl Herchenroeder
RW Monitor
1/8/2016
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will stay the course with its $350.2 million cleanup effort at a nuclear waste site in the Pittsburgh area, which was originally estimated at $44.5 million in 2007.
In a record of decision amendment issued in December for the Parks Township Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA), the Corps stated that excavation, treatment, and off-site disposal of the 21,300 cubic yards of waste “is considered to be the most protective of human health and the environment, complies with requirements that are applicable or relevant and appropriate to the remedial action, and is cost effective.”
“Though there is a significant increase in estimated cost, the amended remedy provides great confidence that all remedial goals will be met and protectiveness of human health and the environment is achieved because it permanently removes the radiological contamination from the site, and, additionally, allows for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure with respect to the (radionuclides of concern). The amended remedy is, therefore, cost effective,” the record of decision reads.
The site’s waste was produced by the defunct Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), which owned and operated the Apollo Nuclear Fabrication Facility and buried waste at the SLDA in the 1960s. The Corps is expected to dispose of the material at a licensed facility outside of Pennsylvania, the Dec. 22 announcement reads. BWXT and previous site owner Atlantic Richfield Co. are on the hook to pay for the cleanup. BWXT spokesman Jud Simmons said the company declined to comment on the announcement.
In 2014, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission came under fire for what the Office of Inspector General described as a lack of oversight and record-keeping at the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program site. The IG found that FUSRAP’s remediation plan grossly underestimated the amount of radioactive material at the site, while the government had missing and incomplete inspection reports.
