EPA/ROD/R02-99/028 1999 EPA Superfund Record of Decision: WELSBACH & GENERAL GAS MANTLE (CAMDEN RADIATION) EPA ID: NJD986620995 OU 01 CAMDEN AND GLOUCESTER CIT, NJ 07/23/1999 RECORD OF DECISION DECISION SUMMARY Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Site Glouster City & Camden, Camden County, New Jersey United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 New York, New York July 1999 DECLARATION FOR THE RECORD OF DECISION SITE NAME AND LOCATION Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Superfund Site Gloucester City & Camden, Camden County, New Jersey STATEMENT OF BASIS AND PURPOSE This Record of Decision (ROD) documents the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's selection of a remedial action to address soil and building material contamination at the Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Site (the “Site”), in accordance with the requirements of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (CERCLA), 42 U.S.C. §9601-9675, and to the extent practicable, the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), as amended, 40 CFR Part 300. This decision document explains the factual and legal basis for selecting the remedy for the first operable unit of this Site. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has been consulted on the planned remedial action in accordance with Section 121 of CERCLA. The NJDEP concurs with the selected remedy (see Appendix IV). The information supporting this remedial action is contained in the Administrative Record for the Site, the index of which can be found in Appendix III of this document. ASSESSMENT OF THE SITE Actual or threatened releases of hazardous substances from the Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Site, if not addressed by implementing the response action selected in this ROD, may present an imminent and substantial endangerment to public health, welfare, or the environment. DESCRIPTION OF THE SELECTED REMEDY The remedy described in this document represents the first of three planned remedial actions or operable units for the Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Site. It will address radiologically-contaminated soil and building materials at the former Welsbach and General Gas Mantle facilities and properties in the vicinity of these facilities. For the second operable unit at the site, the current owner of the former Welsbach facility is performing a remedial investigation and feasibility study on the last remaining Welsbach era building. A third operable unit is planned to investigate potential site impacts to groundwater, surface water, sediments, and wetlands. The major components of the selected remedy include: ! Excavation/removal of soil and waste materials with radiological contamination above remedial action objectives from the former Welsbach and General Gas Mantle Facilities: ! Excavation/removal of soil and waste materials with radiological contamination above remedial action objectives from the residential and commercial properties in the vicinity of two former gas mantle facilities; ! Off-site disposal of the radiologically-contaminated soil and waste materials; ! Decontamination and demolition of the General Gas Mantle Building; and ! Appropriate environmental monitoring to ensure the effectiveness of the remedy. DECLARATION OF STATUTORY DETERMINATIONS The selected remedy meets the requirements for remedial actions set forth in Section 121 of CERCLA, in that it: (1) is protective of human health and the environment; (2) complies with Federal and State requirements that are legally applicable or relevant and appropriate to the extent practicable; (3) is cost-effective, and (4) utilizes permanent solutions and alternative treatment (or resource recovery) technologies to the maximum extent practicable. However, because treatment of the principal threats of the Site was not found to be practicable, this remedy does not satisfy the statutory preference for treatment as a principal element. Because this remedy will not result in hazardous substances remaining on the remediated properties above levels that allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, a five-year review of this action will not be required. I certify that the remedy selected for this Site is protective of human health and the environment. TABLE OF CONTENTS page SITE NAME, LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION ............................ 1 SITE HISTORY AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES ....................... 2 HIGHLIGHTS OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION ......................... 4 SCOPE AND ROLE OF RESPONSE ACTION .............................. 4 THE NATURE OF RADIONUCLIDES .................................... 5 SUMMARY OF SITE CHARACTERISTICS ............................... 6 SUMMARY OF SITE RISKS .......................................... 10 REMEDIAL ACTION OBJECTIVES .................................... 13 DESCRIPTION OF REMEDIAL ALTERNATIVES ......................... 16 SUMMARY OF COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES ........... 21 SELECTED REMEDY ............................................... 26 STATUTORY DETERMINATIONS ..................................... 27 DOCUMENTATION OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGES ........................ 29 APPENDICES APPENDIX I FIGURES APPENDIX II TABLES APPENDIX III ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD INDEX APPENDIX IV STATE LETTER APPENDIX V RESPONSIVENESS SUMMARY SITE NAME, LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION Site Background The Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination site (Welsbach/GGM or Site) is a multi- property site located in Gloucester City and Camden, Camden County, New Jersey. EPA initially identified the Site in 1980 during an archive search conducted as part of the investigation of the U.S. Radium Corporation Superfund site located in Orange, New Jersey. Historical U.S. Radium Corporation files indicated that radiological materials were purchased by U.S. Radium from the Welsbach Corporation during the 1920s. Between the 1890s and 1940s, the Welsbach Company (Welsbach) manufactured gas mantles at its facility in Gloucester City, New Jersey. Welsbach was a major manufacturer and distributer of gas mantles until gas lighting was replaced by the electric light. Welsbach extracted the radioactive element thorium from monazite ore and used it in the gas mantle manufacturing process. Thorium causes the mantles to glow more brightly when heated. A second gas mantle manufacturing facility, known as the General Gas Mantle Company (GGM), was located in Camden, New Jersey. GGM operated from 1915 to approximately 1940. In May 1981, EPA conducted an aerial radiological survey of the Camden and Gloucester City area to investigate for radioactive contaminants. The survey encompassed a 20 square kilometer area surrounding the former locations of the Welsbach and GGM facilities. Five areas with elevated gamma radiation were identified from the aerial survey; they included the locations of the two former gas mantle manufacturing facilities and three mainly residential areas in both Camden and Gloucester City. In 1993, EPA reanalyzed the data from the aerial survey. Based on this revised information, EPA identified a sixth potential radiologically-contaminated area which includes two vacant lots in Gloucester City. In the early 1990s, NJDEP conducted detailed radiological investigations at more than 1,000 properties located throughout the original five study areas. Radiological contamination was identified at the two former gas mantle facilities and at approximately 100 properties located near the two facilities. In 1996, the Welsbach/GGM site was placed on National Priorities List (NPL) because of the presence of radioactive contaminants. EPA divided the Welsbach/GGM site into six study areas in Camden and Gloucester City, New Jersey (Figure 1). A brief description of each study area and its current land use is presented below: • Study Area One: includes the former GGM Facility and residential and commercial properties which surround the facility (Figure 2.) The former GGM Facility is located in a mixed industrial, commercial, and residential zoned section of Camden. 1 • Study Area Two: includes the location of the former Welsbach Facility and nearby residential/commercial properties. The former Welsbach Company is situated in industrial zoned section of Gloucester City with residential properties to the immediate east (Figure 3.) • Study Area Three: includes residential and recreational properties in Gloucester City, including the Gloucester City Swim Club and the Johnson Boulevard Land Preserve. • Study Area Four: includes residential properties in the Fairview section of Camden. • Study Area Five: includes residential properties, vacant land properties, and two municipal parks near Temple Avenue and the South Branch of Newton Creek in Gloucester City. • Study Area Six: includes two vacant lots in a residential zoned area of Gloucester City. SITE HISTORY AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES The Welsbach and the GGM Facilities have complex histories of changes in name, ownership, and operation. Specific details are discussed in the paragraphs below. The United Gas Improvement Company, which formed Welsbach, purchased the patent rights to manufacture thorium-containing gas mantles in the 1880s from Dr. Carl Auer von Welsbach. The process for manufacturing the Welsbach gas mantle used a highly purified solution of 99 percent thorium nitrate and 1 percent cerium nitrate as a "lighting fluid" in distilled water. A fabric sock was then dipped into the thorium solution to create the gas mantle. Thorium caused the gas mantle, when lit,