FUSRAP Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program Stakeholder Report May 2013 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF Legacy ENERGY Management Message to Stakeholders The U.S.Department of Energy (DOE) has operated the Formerly Utilized Sites In this Report ... Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) since 1974.During that time,we have accomplished many activities to identify and remediate to a safe condition sites TABLE OF CONTENTS that became contaminated with radioactive materials in support of the nation’s FUSRAP Sites Map ...................1 early atomic energy programs. DOE is responsible for 30 remediated FUSRAP sites (see the map on the next What Is FUSRAP?.....................1 page).Our mission is to keep these sites protective of human health and the environment.To accomplish this,DOE has evaluated risk for the sites and defined Beneficial Reuse .....................6 long-term surveillance and maintenance (LTS&M) requirements to monitor site conditions,prevent unsafe activities where needed,and keep stakeholders FUSRAP Sites informed.Most FUSRAP sites were remediated to a condition that allows unrestricted use.For all sites,DOE manages site information to preserve Ore and Material Handling .......7 knowledge of site conditions and a record of site activities. DOE is responsible for determining if a site is eligible for inclusion in FUSRAP Processing .......................9 and for keeping remediated sites safe by conducting LTS&M.DOE remediated FUSRAP sites until 1997,when that task was assigned to the U.S.Army Corps of Fabricating and Machining .....13 Engineers (USACE). DOE has accomplished the following work on FUSRAP since 1974: Weapons Development.........18 · Researched federal records across the country and identified more than Storage and Disposal ...........19 500 sites that may have residual radioactive contamination from early Manhattan Engineer District (MED) or U.S.Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Research and Development ....24 activities · Evaluated radiological conditions and conducted surveys to identify sites that Resources and Contacts ............26 had residual radioactive contamination · References and Links ...............26 Conducted eligibility evaluations to determine if the federal government was liable for cleanup,ultimately designating 46 sites for remedial action · Remediated 25 sites and transitioned them to LTS&M · Transitioned five sites to LTS&M that were remediated by USACE · Integrated those sites into DOE Office of Legacy Management (LM) programs · Established procedures and protocols for operating FUSRAP · Coordinated DOE and USACE FUSRAP activities for referral and transition of site responsibilities between the agencies This report is part of our active outreach to stakeholders to ensure that the public and other stakeholders remain aware of FUSRAP sites and that essential FUSRAP knowledge is preserved. Please visit our website at http://energy.gov/lm/sites/lm-sites/programmatic- framework/fusrap-program-information. You may send questions about FUSRAP or the FUSRAP sites to [email protected],let me know if there is more we can do to keep you informed of FUSRAP. Christopher Clayton DOE LM,FUSRAP Program Manager FUSRAP SITES Seaway Industrial Park Linde Air Products Division Niagara Falls Storage Site Guterl Steel Beverly Niagara Falls Vicinity Properties Indian Orchard Albany Tonawanda North,Units 1 and 2 Colonie Shpack Landfill Painesville Seymour Buffalo Chicago North Adrian Combustion Chicago South Aliquippa Engineering Toledo Parks New York Iowa Army Luckey Township Ammunition Plant Joslyn Steel Harshaw Springdale Sylvania-Corning Berkeley Chemical Oxford Superior W.R. Wayne St.Louis Airport Granite City Hamilton Steel Grace Jersey City St.Louis Airport Vicinity Properties Columbus Latty Avenue Properties East Maywood St.Louis Downtown Fairfield Middlesex New Brunswick Acid/Pueblo Canyon Sampling Plant Bayo Canyon Middlesex North Madison Oak Ridge Warehouses E.I.DuPont Site Chupadera Mesa DOE Site U.S.Army Corps of Engineers Site What Is FUSRAP? FUSRAP was established in 1974 to identify,investigate,and clean machine the uranium and thorium ores and metal used in the up or control exposure to residual contamination at sites that had first atomic bombs (see figure on page 4).FUSRAP sites supported MED or AEC activities. conducted many of the operations and processes used in early atomic weapons production and nuclear research.These sites are When the nation began developing atomic weapons during World typically smaller facilities,usually privately owned,that were War II,no government-owned infrastructure existed to provide the released for private use when their government contracts had specialized services needed to accomplish that task,so the federal been fulfilled. government contracted for services from private enterprises with the needed expertise and facilities. In August 1946,President Truman signed the Atomic Energy Act, which created the AEC,a federal agency that replaced MED and As government-owned facilities were developed,the contracted took over the responsibilities for atomic weapons and early facilities were cleaned up to standards in effect at the time atomic energy programs.AEC continued to contract with private and released for unrestricted use. industry to support the nation’s nuclear weapons and energy In the early 1970s,residual radiological contamination was programs until the late 1960s,by which time a government identified at some of the released sites.AEC initiated FUSRAP to industrial base had been established.AEC was reorganized as the review the radiological conditions at the early atomic energy Energy Research and Development Administration in 1975,and in program sites,determine if a given site was eligible for government 1977 that agency was reorganized as DOE,which was established cleanup,and remediate any remaining contamination to current as a cabinet-level agency that consolidated the energy-related standards at eligible sites. functions of a number of government agencies. During the 1940s,uranium ore was obtained from the Belgian Early Atomic Weapons Research and Production Congo or the western U.S.and Canada.Uranium oxide was In August 1942,USACE created the MED to develop the technology extracted from the ore and reduced to uranium metal.The metal and production facilities for the first atomic weapons.Popularly was sent to machining plants or to facilities that transformed the known as the Manhattan Project,MED hired contractors metal into a form that could be enriched to Uranium-235 (see throughout the United States to store,sample,assay,process,and sidebar on next page).Machined uranium metal was sent to 1 production reactors,primarily to Oak Ridge,Tennessee,or the Hanford Reservation in Washington State in the 1940s and the Savannah River Plant Radioactive Contamination at in South Carolina in the 1950s,to produce plutonium used to make nuclear FUSRAP Sites weapons.Plutonium and enriched uranium provided by other federal operations were then sent to weapons production facilities. Residual radioactive contamination at FUSRAP sites usually consists of uranium and its decay Wastes from uranium-ore processing and other operations were sent to products.Uranium is a naturally occurring element storage and disposal facilities. that is radioactive.Atoms of a radioactive element Other FUSRAP sites involved in early weapons production were used for are unstable and spontaneously decay to lighter beryllium and thorium production or were research facilities. elements (decay products),while giving off gamma rays,alpha particles,or beta particles (electrons).The decay products are also radioactive FUSRAP and undergo decay,which leads to an entire series of ever-lighter elements in a decay chain,resulting Although most FUSRAP sites were cleaned up to guidelines that were in finally in decay to a stable isotope of lead. effect at the time and released,by the 1970s some of those guidelines had Uranium ore contains all the elements in the been replaced by more stringent standards.AEC,then DOE,reexamined more uranium decay chain.Ore handling,analysis,and than 500 sites to identify potential risks to public health,safety,and the research resulted in radioactive contamination environment where levels of radioactive contamination might exceed current from uranium and its decay products at some standards.DOE identified 46 sites that required cleanup and began the FUSRAP sites.The ore was processed to remove cleanups in 1979.Seven additional sites have been added to FUSRAP for a the uranium,leaving the decay products as a total of 53 FUSRAP sites. waste.In separate processes,the uranium was DOE remediated 25 sites before Congress transferred responsibility for converted to metal or other forms,generating FUSRAP site characterization and remediation to USACE in 1997.USACE radioactive waste.Additional waste was generated has completed remedial action at 5 sites,and 23 active sites are currently when uranium metal was machined,creating undergoing remedial action.DOE remains responsible for determining uranium dust that was released to the whether a site is eligible for remediation under FUSRAP and for long-term environment. care of remediated,or completed,FUSRAP sites.DOE assumes perpetual The research and development of these responsibility for completed FUSRAP sites. processes also generated radioactive waste at DOE currently manages DOE FUSRAP to ensure that FUSRAP sites remain some FUSRAP sites. protective of human health and the environment after remediation is Some FUSRAP