Page 329 - Beyond Decommissioning

Case studies of nuclear redevelopment 305

7.3.3 Welsbach and General Gas Mantle Contamination Site,
Camden and Gloucester City, NJ (US Environmental
Protection Agency, 2017b)
The Welsbach Company and the General Gas Mantle Company produced gas mantles
at the site from the 1890s until 1941. The companies used radioactive thorium, which
made the mantles glow more brightly when heated, but eventually caused extensive
contamination of the two installations and some 100 properties nearby. Cleanup oper-
ations began in 2000. In April 2008, two local nonprofit organizations bought a
2
cleaned up part of the site and built the 370m , 96-seat Waterfront South Theatre,
whose first season took place in 2010. The facility is also in use for school, music,
and arts programs. Cleanup operations continue on other parts of the site and have
been further enhanced since 2009 with $28 million funded under the American Rein-
vestment and Recovery Act.
Redevelopment assists in the establishment of community assets. A few examples
are worth reporting. Restoration of the William Flynn Veterans Sports complex
(reopened in 2011) consisted of rebuilding three baseball fields, a football training
field, and parking area. Restoration of the Nicholson Road Sports complex (reopened
in 2014) encompassed three girls’ softball fields, a league baseball field, shower facil-
ities, and a snack bar. The former Welsbach property is a busy harbor on the Delaware
River with buildings for storage and warehousing.

7.3.4 Ridgewood, Queens, NY (The New York Times, 2017)

Regardless of the merits of Superfund, there are often complicating issues. The case
study that follows is quoted only to arise a more general issue. A block in Ridgewood,
Queens that includes several automotive businesses was declared a Superfund site by
the EPA because of radiological contamination. A few shops sit on land formerly used
by the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company, which from the 1920s through the 1950s
extracted metals from imported sand. In the chemical process, the company produced
waste containing thorium and uranium, which it disposed of by dumping the waste
into sewers and perhaps also by burying it. Some owners of local businesses are con-
cerned because the proposed cleanup plan would force them to relocate. Six busi-
nesses have been targeted for demolition as part of a cleanup plan.

7.3.5 The golf courses (US Environmental Protection Agency,
2003)

Where site remediation calls for on-site containment of contaminated material or post-
construction monitoring or treatment, building golf facilities onsite has been a com-
mon option within the Superfund program. This should be viewed on account of the
broad popularity of the golf game in the United States. US Environmental Protection
Agency (2003) is a useful reference when considering golf facility reuse options dur-
ing the process of identifying, designing, and executing a cleanup plan. First, the