SDMS Document VIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIilH 109850 RECORD OF DECISION Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Site Gloucester City & Camden, Camden County, New Jersey Operable Unit No. 3 Surface Water, Sediment, and Wetland Areas United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 New York, New York September 2005 500001 DECLARATION STATEMENT RECORD OF DECISION SITE NAME AND LOCATION Welsbach and General Gas Mantle Contamination Site (EPA ID# NJD986620995) Camden and Gloucester City, Camden County, New Jersey Operable Unit 3 STATEMENT OF BASIS AND PURPOSE This decision document presents the selected no action remedy for the surface water, sediment, and wetland areas in the Welsbach and General Gas Mantle Contamination site (Welsbach Site) study area in Camden and Gloucester City, New Jersey. This remedy was chosen in accordance with the Comprehensive Envirormiental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended, and, to the extent practicable, the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). This decision is based on the Administrative Record file for this site. The State of New Jersey concurs with the selected no action remedy. DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED REMEDY The selected no action remedy described in this docimient applies to the third of foiu- plaimed operable tmits for the Welsbach Site. The U.S. Enviroimiental Protection Agency (EPA), in consultation with the State of New Jersey, has determined that no site-related contaminants of potential concem are present at elevated levels in the surface water, sediment, and wetland areas in the Welsbach Site study area. Therefore, no remedial action is warranted, because there is no radiological contamination in the surface water, sediment, and wetland areas in the Welsbach Site study area that poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. On July 23, 1999, EPA, with support from New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) selected a remedy for Operable Unit 1 (GUI) at the Welsbach Site, and identified three additional planned operable imits. The QUI remedy included demolition of the former General Gas Mantle Company (GGM) building; excavation of the radiologically contaminated soil and debris at the residential, commercial, and industrial properties at the Welsbach Site; and disposal of this material at a licensed off-site facility. Additional operable units will address potential remedies for the former Welsbach-era building knovsTi as the Armstrong Building (Operable Unit 2), and the groimdwater (Operable Unit 4). DECLARATION OF STATUTORY DETERMINATIONS In accordance with the requirements of CERCLA and the NCP, EPA has determined that no remedial action is necessary for the third operable unit (0U3) of the Welsbach Site to ensure protection of human health and the environment. 500002 The primary contaminants at the Welsbach Site are radionuclides in the thorium and uraniimi decay chains and their decay products. Although the levels of some chemical contaminants of potential concem exceeded the ecological guidelines and human health risk levels in the surface water, sediment, and wetland areas in the Welsbach Site study area, these chemical contaminants are not related to operations associated with the Welsbach Company or the GrGM Company. EPA is aware that NJDEP periodically collects samples of edible fish and shellfish in water bodies throughout the state. NJDEP has fotmd elevated levels of merciuy, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in its Delaware River samples. Furthermore, NJDEP established fish consumption advisories to address the elevated levels of PCBs and other chemical contaminants in fish from the Delaware River and its tributaries. EPA recommends that people fishing in the area follow the appropriate fish consiunption advisories. Mr 4W25 George Paviou, Director Date Emergency and Remedial Response Division 500003 DECISION SUMMARY Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Site Gloucester City & Camden, Camden County, New Jersey Operable Unit No. 3 Surface Water, Sediment, and Wetland Areas United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 New York, New York September 2005 500004 TABLE OF CONTENTS SITE NAME, LOCATION, AND DESCRIPTION, SITE HISTORY AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES. HIGHLIGHTS OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION 3 SCOPE AND ROLE OF OPERABLE UNIT 4 SITE CHARACTERISTICS..... 4 CURRENT AND POTENTIAL FUTURE LAND AND RESOURCES USES 7 SITE RISKS 7 STATE ACCEPTANCE. 15 DOCUMENTATION OF SIGNIFICANT CHANGES 15 APPENDICES APPENDIX I FIGURES APPENDIX II TABLES APPENDIX m ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD INDEX APPENDIX IV RESPONSIVENESS SUMMARY APPENDIX V STATE CONCURRANCE 500005 SITE NAME, LOCATION, AND DESCRIPTION The Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination site (Welsbach Site) is a multi-property site centered aroimd two former thoritim gas mantle manufacturing companies in the cities of Gloucester City and Camden, New Jersey. Approximately 100 residential, commercial, and industrial properties make up the Welsbach Site. The Delaware River, Newton Creek, and Martins Lake are adjacent to some of these radiologically contaminated properties. This Record of Decision (ROD) addresses surface water, sediment and wetland areas associated with these water bodies in the Welsbach Site study area. The U.S. Enviroimiental Protection Agency (EPA) has divided the Welsbach Site into four separate cleanup phases, or operable units. On July 23,1999, EPA, with support from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) selected a remedy for the radiologically cpntaminated soils at the Welsbach Site. The remedy for this first Operable Unit 1 (OUl) included demolition of the former General Gas Mantle Company (GGM) building, excavation of the radiologically contaminated soil and debris at the residential, commercial, and industrial properties at the Welsbach Site, and disposal of this material at a licensed off-site facility. The third Operable Unit 3 (0U3) includes the surface water, sediment and wetland areas in the Welsbach Site study area. Additional operable units will address potential remedies for the former Welsbach-era building known as the Armstrong Building (Operable Unit 2), and the groimdwater (Operable Unit 4). SITE HISTORY AND ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES Site Background 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 distributor of gas mantles vmtil the electric hght replaced gas hghting. Beginning aroimd 1895, Welsbach imported monazite ore to use as its source of the radioactive element thorium. Welsbach extracted thorium from the ore and used it in its gas mantle manufacturing process. Thorium causes the mantles to glow more brightly when heated. Just after the turn of the century, Welsbach was the largest producer of gas mantles and lamps in the United States, making up to 250,000 mantles per day. Welsbach went out of business in 1940. A second gas mantle manufacturing company, GGM, located in Camden, New Jersey, was a small competitor to the Welsbach Company. GGM operated from 1912 to 1941. There is little information on its iactivities. It appears that GGM only used refined thorium in its gas mantle manufacturing processes. EPA initially identified the Welsbach Site in 1980 during an archive search conducted as part of an investigation of the U.S. Radium Corporation Superfimd site located in Orange, New Jersey. Historical U.S. Radium Corporation files indicated that U.S. Radium purchased radiological materials from Welsbach during the 1920s. In May 1981, EPA sponsored an aerial radiological survey of the Camden and Gloucester City area. The survey covered a 20-square-kilometer area surrounding the locations of the former Welsbach and GGM facilities. NJDEP evaluated the data from the aerial survey and identified five areas with elevated gamma radiation levels. The 500006 elevated areas 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 re-analyzed the data from the aerial survey, which subsequently led to the identification of a sixth area, located in Gloucester City, with elevated gamma radiation levels (See Figure 1.) A description of each Study Area follows: • Study Area 1 - includes the former GGM facihty and residential and commercial properties that surround the facihty. The former GGM facihty is located in a mixed industrial, commercial, and residential section of Camden. • Studv Area 2 - includes the location of the former Welsbach facihty and nearby residential/commercial properties. The former Welsbach facility is located in an industrially zoned section of Gloucester City with residential properties immediately to the east. An original Welsbach building, the Aimsfrong building, is still present on the property. • Study Area 3 - includes residential and recreational properties in Gloucester City, including the Gloucester City Swim Club and the Johnson Boulevard Land Preserve. • Study Area 4 - includes residential properties in the Fairview section of Camden. • Studv Area 5 - includes residential properties, vacant land, and two municipal parks near Temple Avenue and the South Branch of Newton Creek in Gloucester City. • Study Area 6 - includes vacant lots in a residentially zoned area of Gloucester City. • Surface Water, Sediment and Wetland Investigation Areas - EPA conducted the investigation of surface waters, sediments and wetlands in