Pennsylvania UMTRA Site

 Home
 BEMR Contents
 U.S. Map

The Canonsburg former processing site is one of 24 uranium mill processing sites designated by the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act for remediation by the Department of Energy. During the 1960s, private firms processed most of the uranium ore mined in the Unites States for the Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor of the Department of Energy. Congress passed the Act in 1978 in response to public concern regarding potential health hazards from long-term exposure to uranium mill tailings. It authorized the Department of Energy to stabilize, dispose of, and control uranium mill tailings and other contaminated material at 24 uranium mill processing sites and vicinity properties. For a general discussion of the UMTRA Program, see the overview presented in the New Mexico section of this report.

The cost estimate model used for this report provides costs for each of the UMTRA sites. All costs for waste management activities, program management, and relevant landlord activities attributable to the Department are provided for within the scope of environmental restoration. There are no Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act sites with either current or planned nuclear material and facility stabilization activity needs. Funding for all sites is 100 percent nondefense.

Pursuant to the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act, the Department of Energy entered into a Cooperative Agreement in 1982 with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The agreement outlines the roles and responsibilities of each party. It also delineates the cost sharing arrangement that makes the Department of Energy responsible for 100 percent of the assessment costs and 90 percent of the remediation costs, and the Commonwealth responsible for the remaining 10 percent of the remediation costs. In addition, the Department of Energy is responsible for paying 90 percent of the Commonwealth*s 10 percent, and the Commonwealth is responsible for the remaining 10 percent of these costs (one percent of the total). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission concurred on the original agreement and must concur on all major modifications.

CANONSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (UMTRA SITE)

The Canonsburg site is within the Borough of Canonsburg, Washington County, in southwestern Pennsylvania, approximately 32 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of downtown Pittsburgh. The 7.5-hectare (18.6-acre) Canonsburg site lies between Chartiers Creek and the Conrail railroad tracks. The site contained more than 285,836 cubic meters (376,100 cubic yards) of contaminated material.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Canonsburg mill site was to provide uranium for the United States Government. The source of contamination was the residual tailings remaining after the uranium was extracted during the milling process. The Standard Chemical Company originally operated the Canonsburg site as a radium extraction plant from 1911 to 1922. Later, the Vitro Corporation of America acquired the property and processed the ore to extract radium and uranium salts. From 1942 until 1957, Vitro was under contract to the Federal Government to recover uranium from ore and scrap. From 1956 to 1957, approximately 41,040 cubic meters (54,000 cubic yards) of this uranium was moved to a 3.6-hectare (nine-acre) site in Burrell Township, which is about 1.6 kilometers (one mile) east of Blairsville, Pennsylvania, between the Conemaugh River and the Conrail railroad tracks. For the next nine years, the site was used only for storage under an Atomic Energy Commission contract. In 1967, the Canon Development Company purchased the property, and tenant companies leased it for light industrial use.

The Environmental Management program is responsible for cleaning up surface- and ground-water contamination at the UMTRA sites. The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act designated the residual radioactive material found at this site for cleanup and stabilization. The Act directed the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate standards (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 192) and the Department of Energy to perform the cleanup. It also assigned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to oversee and certify the cleanup, and license the completed disposal cell.

FUTURE USE

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the processing site, which comprises Areas A, B, and C. Areas A and B make up the disposal site. Areas A and B will be Controlled Access, and the Federal Government will own them; Area C will be returned to the State of Pennsylvania for limited public use. The future use of Area C is unknown at this time. The site will be monitored and maintained in accordance with the Long-term Surveillance Plan approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission . Title to the Burrell disposal site was previously acquired by civil action in the United States District Court, and is owned by the Federal Government under the custody of the Department of Energy. Public access to the Burrell disposal site is also controlled.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION

Surface remediation action has been completed and the source of contamination has been stabilized. However, residual milling-related contaminated ground water remains.

Surface Project

Remedial action at the Canonsburg former processing site was completed in July 1985. Remediation of the Canonsburg site included stabilization of approximately 201,400 cubic meters (265,000 cubic yards) of residual radioactive material at the former processing site and remediation of 163 vicinity properties. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission certified the site in August 1995 and licensed the site in January 1996, with transfer to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program in May 1996. Approximately 41,040 cubic meters (54,000 cubic yards) of contaminated materials from the Canonsburg site that had been moved to the Burrell Township site in the 1950s were remediated in place at Burrell. Remediation at the Burrell site was completed in July 1987, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed the disposal site in May 1994.

Remedial action at the Canonsburg site was conducted in three areas, designated A, B, and C. Area A was contaminated to depths of up to 1.8 meters (six feet). A large subsurface portion of Area B was contaminated by fill material placed on the original contaminated surface, with as much as 6.1 meters (20 feet) of cover material on top of the fill material. Area C (the mill site waste disposal lagoon) contained residual radioactive material at least three meters (ten feet) deep from liquid process waste piped to a pond in that area. The pond was filled with processing waste and later covered with tailings materials and waste from nearby steel mills. Depth to ground water in the area generally varies from three to six meters (10 to 20 feet).

The Canonsburg site Remedial Action Plan, which was concurred upon by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November 1983, outlined the contaminant distribution and necessary remediation. The UMTRA Surface Project will conduct surveillance and maintenance of the disposal cell after completion of remedial action and prior to its transfer to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program in FY 1996.

Ground-Water Compliance Project

The Department is developing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement pertaining to all 24 UMTRA sites. For a discussion of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, see the UMTRA program narrative in the New Mexico section of this report. Site-specific National Environmental Policy Act documentation will be developed to propose an appropriate ground-water compliance strategy and reasonable alternatives for the Canonsburg site once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

Cost estimates for this report assume a No Further Action compliance demonstration, with the application of alternate concentration limits strategy. For all types of ground-water compliance strategies, once the Nuclear Regulatory Commission determines the site to be in compliance with Subpart B of the Environmental Protection Agency Standards and the site is certified, no additional long-term surveillance or monitoring will be conducted.

The following milestone dates have been established and planning purposes.

Ground water has been monitored at Canonsburg since 1986. Following the definition of background and baseline ground-water conditions at the site, monitor wells were sampled twice a year for five years. They are now sampled annually in late summer or early fall. This sampling frequency permits evaluation of trends in ground-water flow conditions and quality. A total of 15 monitoring wells were sampled in October 1994 to evaluate background conditions and to evaluate crossgradient and downgradient ground-water quality.

Elevated uranium concentrations provided evidence of minor ground-water contamination, particularly in and around Area C. Uranium is considered an indicator parameter at Canonsburg because it is the constituent most likely related to uranium processing activities at the site and because it is mobile in ground water. Uranium concentrations exceed the Environmental Protection Agency maximum concentration limit for ground water in several wells, indicating that the tailings have impacted ground-water quality in the unconsolidated material. The minor amounts of uranium pose no threat to human health or the environment because no wells can be constructed in or downgradient from the areas of contamination.

Direct Program Management/Support

Program management supports management efforts for the National Environmental Policy Act process, site characterization and licensing, public information/participation, applicable state and federal regulator costs, quality assurance audits, program and management support for the technical assistance contractor, special studies, document control, technical assistance contractor site and technical management, cost and schedule controls, planning and preparation of the federal budget, and the Environmental Management Progress Tracking System.

FUNDING ESTIMATE

The following table presents estimated funding information for the Canonsburg site.