EPA has been performing an emergency removal action at this site which has primarily involved the stabilization, repackaging, transportation, and removal of hazardous magnesium materials and other solid wastes from the facility. EPA completed the activity of repackaging abandoned magnesium materials that have been stored in drums that have succumbed to varying degrees of corrosion. The repackaged materials are staged inside site buildings pending removal from the site. Areas of the site including open pad areas, low areas and drainage ways are being cleared of residual wastes that had spilled when the facility was operating. The contents of eight large above-ground lime tanks, are being removed and stabilized for disposal. Drums of low-level radioactive solids have been weighed and staged pending disposal. Recycling and disposal options continue to be investigated for the repackaged materials. PADEP is overseeing site activities for the state and providing support. EPA START contractor TechLaw is providing technical and administrative support to the EPA. EPA and PADEP officials continue to control access to the site as well as coordinate activities with the various generators and disposal contractors.
Personnel On-Scene:
09/23/08 EPA-1, START-1, ERRS-9, Other-2, Security-1 (24 hr)
09/24/08 EPA-4, START-1, ERRS-9, PADEP-1, Other-2, Security-1 (24 hr)
09/25/08 EPA-2, START-1, ERRS-9, PADEP-2, Security-1 (24 hr)
09/26/08 EPA-1, START-1, ERRS-9, Security-1 (24 hr)
09/27/08 ERRS-9
Weather:
09/23/08 Low of 55° F, high of 80° F, partly cloudy, 0.00” precipitation, wind W 2-3 mph.
09/24/08 Low of 49° F, high of 74° F, partly cloudy, 0.00” precipitation, wind W 3-5 mph
09/25/08 Low of 47° F, high of 70° F, partly cloudy, 0.00” precipitation, wind W 2-10 mph
09/26/08 Low of 41° F, high of 70° F, partly cloudy, 0.01” precipitation, winds 5-10 mph
09/27/08 Low of 59° F, high of 73° F, mostly cloudy, 0.41”precipitation, winds 3-10 mph
09/23 08
Emergency and Rapid Response Services (ERRS) contractor Guardian Environmental Services, Inc. held its morning safety meeting and discussed the days planned activities. ERRS drained excess water from the material reaction pit and began mixing material in the pit and began removing the hardened lime from the troughs located under the vats that contain the bulk of the stored lime on site. ERRS conducted general cleanup activities around the site. A visual inspection along with an inspection using a thermal imager was conducted on the remaining drums located in building 2 by ERRS, START, PADEP, and the OSC.
USEPA OSC Dennis Matlock mobilized to site to oversee operations.
WVDEP Representative Mary Hoffman mobilized to site to assist with oversight.
START mobilized to the site and provided the OSC with technical and administrative assistance, conducted contractor monitoring, drum inspection, disposal tracking and written and photographic documentation.
09/24/08
ERRS organized and re-inventoried the drums from building 9 to prepare them for off site disposal. There are a total of 250 drums remaining in building 9 containing miscellaneous compounds and waste materials. The drums have been organized into categories according to the contents of each drum. Work also continued on disassembling the troughs located on the lime vat platform, under the lime vats. The vats can be emptied of their lime content once the obstacles below the vats have been removed.
START used a thermal imaging device to check for heat-generating reactions in the drums in Building 2. The device did not detect any major thermal differences in any of the drums. START also provided the OSC with technical and administrative assistance, conducted contractor monitoring, disposal tracking and written and photographic documentation.
A visit was made to site by OSC Debbie Lindsey, Fran Burns (Branch Chief US EPA), and Ana Pomales (ATSDR). OSC Downie explained the site operations and remaining hazards during a tour of the facility.
09/25/08
ERRS completed the disassembling of the troughs, augers and other miscellaneous items on the platform under the vats located on the west side of building 2. The lime was hardened in the spouts at the bottom of the vats to a concrete-like consistency. Three of the vats are partially filled and one of the vats is nearly full.
Continued sampling of magnesium drums was conducted by ERRS to classify the means of disposal or recycling.
ERRS continued mixing material in the reaction pit, and then removed the reacted material from the pit and piled it on the south side of the pit to dry in preparation for disposal.
START used a thermal imaging device to check for heat-generating reactions in the drums in Building 2. START did not detect any major thermal differences in any of the drums. hydrogen gas can be heard venting from at least one of the drums. START also provided the OSC with technical and administrative assistance, conducted contractor monitoring, disposal tracking and written and photographic documentation.
09/26/08
ERRS built a containment area under the vats on the west side of building 2 to confine the lime dust to the immediate area when removing the lime from the vats. Three of the four vats were emptied of their lime by opening the hatches on the bottom of each vat. The hatches were clogged with lime that had hardened to a concrete-like consistency. The lime had to be chiseled out with air and hand tools. One vat remained to be emptied in this group of four vats. It contained the most material. The small amount of lime that escaped the containment was shoveled up into the backhoe and taken to the reaction pit where it was mixed with water in the pit. After the reaction it was placed near the pit for de-watering.
START used a thermal imaging device to check for heat-generating reactions in the drums in Building 2. START did not detect any major thermal differences in any of the drums. START also provided the OSC with technical and administrative assistance, conducted contractor monitoring, disposal tracking and written and photographic documentation.
09/27/08
ERRS removed the lime from the last of the four vats, located on the west side of building 2. There was a thick wall of hardened lime in the bottom of the vat that was difficult to break through. Once the hardened lime was broken up, the remaining lime poured out of the vat onto the barricaded area below. This vat contained the most volume of material of the four vats on this unit.
The ERRS crew began hauling the lime from the vat area to the reaction pit where it was mixed with water until a heat reaction took place. It was then removed from the pit and placed beside the pit to dry to a mortar-like consistency. It was then placed in a pile approximately 50 feet away to await disposal.
ERRS will arrange for transportation of the drummed magnesium material to an off-site disposal or recycling facility. ERRS will also continue to arrange for off-site treatment and disposal of hazardous waste materials in building 9. ERRS is planning procedures to remove material from the vertical hopper tanks located on the south side of building 2 and will continue to remove spilled material from drainage ways, low areas and grounds areas. Disposal will also be arranged for the low level radioactive drums located in building 7.
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