Nuclear waste dump cleanup delayed
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The removal of tons of radioactive soil and materials from a nuclear waste dump in Armstrong County has been halted because of "a deviation" from the site plan established by the contractor and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Jeff Hawk, a spokesman for the corps, said although the deviation presented no health threat to workers or local residents, excavation work at the rural Parks Township site will not resume until "corrective measures" are put in place.
The corps will hold a public meeting to address the matter at 7 tonight in the Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department Hall.
"We know information about this project is important to the community, and we're committed to providing updates about site activities and progress," said Col. Butch Graham, commander for the corps' Pittsburgh District.
The 44-acre site, known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area, is along River Road between Leechburg and Apollo, more than 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The materials buried in trenches there came from two plants that supplied nuclear fuel under U.S. contracts for nuclear submarines and power plants in the post-World War II era, when regulations on waste disposal were lax.
The plants closed in the mid-1980s, and residents and officials battled for years over a cleanup plan that was put into place this year. Cabrera Services, a Connecticut-based contractor, began the eight-year, $180 million excavation in August.
On Sept. 30, however, the work was stopped.
"We have a stringent work plan out there that has safeguards in it, and if there's a deviation, we have to take a hard look at it," Mr. Hawk said. "The contractor suspended the excavation, and we supported it. Any deviation from our plan is unacceptable, and it's apparent that the contractor deviated from the work plan, so we're going to have to put in corrective measures."
Officials said the site has 10 trenches, an average of 50 feet wide and 300 to 400 feet long. Records from the companies that used the site indicate that the equipment and material buried there include drums of liquid waste, contaminated clothing and even a truck.
Tests show low levels of U-235, an enriched uranium used in the production of nuclear fuels.
The two companies -- Atlantic Richfield Co. (ARCO) and Babcock and Wilcox (now BWX Technologies) -- have paid $80 million to more than 300 claimants over illnesses, death and property damage stemming from the two nuclear fuel plants' operations.
Excavation workers wear white jumpsuits with respirators and two monitors -- one to detect radioactive materials and one to record air quality.
Mr. Hawk said workers continue to process material previously removed from trenches and to ship material to Utah. Plans called for the excavation to stop next month for the winter, then resume in April.
First Published October 18, 2011 12:00 am
