Source: http://www.nj.com, September 22, 2014
By: Louis C. Hochman
Dozens of contaminated buildings at the 263-acre Radiation Technology Superfund site — once used for testing and developing rocket engines and propellant — will be knocked down under a plan announced Monday.
In all, 34 buildings and structures at the Lake Denmark Road property — contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), asbestos and other materials — are slated for demolition.
The announcement was made by Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck and Congressmember Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, as part of the Republican congressman’s annual tour of Superfund sites in his district.
Enck said New Jersey has the most Superfund cleanup sites — those being remediated under a 1980 law meant to clean up the country’s most hazardous waste sites — in the nation. Under the Superfund program, the EPA seeks out legally responsible parties and attempts to hold them responsible for cleanup costs — though costs can be passed to the taxpayer if those efforts fail.
“A strong national Superfund program is vital to protecting the health of people who live and work in every corner of New Jersey,” she said in an EPA news release about the project.
According to the EPA, groundwater at the Radiation Technology site — near Picatinny Arsenal and first added to the Superfund list 30 years ago — is contaminated with volatile organic compounds. Allant Techsystems, a successor to a past owner, is cleaning up the groundwater and soil under EPA oversight, it said.
In addition to the development of rocket engines and propellants, the site was formerly used for radiation sterilization, production of architectural products, and hardwood flooring production.
The EPA says Radiation Technologies improperly stored and disposed of waste drums containing solvents and other chemicals.
Alliant has installed systems to monitor groundwater and nearby wells; drinking water from those wells is not impacted by the contamination, according to the EPA.
Two decades ago, the EPA finalized plans to install a system to extract and treat contaminated groundwater. Alliant is currently studying an alternative to groundwater treatment — using injections of emulsified oil to break up contaminants — the agency said.
Last year, the EPA removed 75 rusting and leaking drums and containers from a building at the site. It chose a plan to remove deteriorated drums buried at the site in July 2014, and that work is continuing, according to the EPA.
The agency said because of the complex nature of the site, the remediation has been occurring in several stages.
As part of his annual tour, Frelinghuysen also visited the Mansfield Trail Dump Superfund site in located in Byram Township, the Rockaway Township Wells Superfund site, the Rockaway Borough Wellfield Superfund site, the Caldwell Trucking Co. Superfund site in Fairfield and the Unimatic Manufacturing Corporation Superfund site in Fairfield.
The EPA’s plan for the Radiation Technologies site demolitions, as proposed earlier this year, is listed below:
Radiation Technologies Superfund plan