Page 332 - Beyond Decommissioning

308 Beyond Decommissioning

Most of the Denver remediated properties support commercial or industrial uses,
but there are also public service uses, a few residential properties, and some open
spaces. The EPA and the State of Colorado designed a flexible cleanup plan that would
protect the health and the environment while including redevelopment. Redevelop-
ment has been effective at several decontaminated properties. Home Depot USA,
Inc. located one of their retail stores at this site. Cleanup work at the Home Depot
location included covering contaminated soils with a protective soil cap designed
for the store’s parking lot. The EPA developed a Prospective Purchaser Agreement
(PPA) and a Covenant Not to Sue to address Home Depot’s concerns regarding the
company’s potential responsibility for site contamination. The requirements of the
PPA ensure the soil cap maintenance overtime. Other site reuses include Ruby Hill
Park, which provides a community swimming pool and other recreation resources,
and Evans Station Lofts, a 224-apartment complex.
As of December 2017, the EPA had information on 75 on-site businesses. These
businesses employed 1125 people and generated some $282,429,000 in annual sales
revenue (US Environmental Protection Agency, 2017d).

7.3.8 The Fernald Feed Materials Production Center, OH

Fernald is a Superfund site situated about 32km northwest of Cincinnati, OH. It was a
facility that fabricated uranium fuel cores for the US defense industry from 1951 to
1989. During its operational lifetime Fernald produced 170,000-ton uranium products
and 35,000ton of intermediate materials, for example, uranium trioxide and uranium
tetrafluoride. The fabrication process required a series of chemical and metallurgical
steps, which took place in nine dedicated installations onsite. Fernald also recycled
uranium used in the Hanford reactors. This returned uranium was the source of
99
Tc, a radiological contaminant ubiquitous at Fernald. Discharges from Fernald to
the environment resulted in exposure to local communities due to radiation, soluble
and insoluble uranium, and other noxious substances. Local residents may have been
exposed to these substances through groundwater pathways, soil contamination, and
gaseous effluents.
The Fernald Closure Project is managed by the US Department of Energy (US
DOE). In 1990, Congress approved closure and environmental cleanup of the site.
Fluor Fernald was awarded the cleanup contract in 1992. They completed their portion
of the cleanup in October 2006. The resulting waste was either shipped offsite to
authorized disposal sites (Fig. 7.2) or disposed of on site (Fig. 7.3). Huge amounts
of contaminated rubble, sludge, liquids and ground were taken away and replaced with
artificial marsh and vegetation.
The Fernald community was a constructive stakeholder in the cleanup process. The
citizen group called Fernald Residents for Environmental Safety and Health played an
active role from 1984 through 2006 by educating and representing the greater com-
munity, influencing critical decisions, and participating in national discussions on
nuclear waste fate. In 1993, the Fernald Citizens Advisory Board was created to
address the more technical issues. More citizens’ groups emerged during the cleanup
period and contributed to the decision making.