EPA, TCEQ SIGN OFF ON REVIEW OF PANTEX CLEANUP

The Environmental Protection Agency and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have signed off on a five-year review of efforts to clean up legacy contamination at the Pantex Plant. Pantex Plant contractor B&W Pantex said this week that groups approved the plant’s cleanup plans in November, a milestone that the contractor said “confirms the effectiveness of ongoing” cleanup efforts. Cold War-era contamination of the groundwater and soil remains at the site remains from decades of waste disposal practices that included discarding contaminated wastewater, solvents and debris in unlined ditches, pits and landfills. A pump-and-treat system and two bioremediation systems are in use to remove contamination from a shallow perched aquifer beneath Pantex and adjacent Texas Tech University property, while a soil vapor extraction system, ditch liners and vegetative covers on landfills are used to clean up soil contamination. “Protection of the environment is a critical focus of all our efforts at Pantex. The results of this review show that we are taking the right steps to accomplish that mission,” B&W Pantex General Manager John Woolery said in a statement.