Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 28,003
- 9,607
- 910
U.S. Ecology's Wayne Disposal hazardous waste landfill in Van Buren Township is proposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to take low-level radioactive waste as part of a major cleanup of what's known as the Luckey site, a long-shuttered beryllium plant in Luckey, Ohio. The plant supplied the strong, light but highly toxic metal to the U.S. military and Atomic Energy Commission in the 1940s and 1950s.
The process of extracting beryllium over the years left behind low-level radioactive material that's naturally occurring in soils and rock — radioactivity that became more concentrated as the leftover materials accumulated, said Stephen Buechi, the Army Corps' project manager for the Luckey site cleanup.
"It's above cleanup levels that are established that look at potential long-term risks for exposures to the soils," he said.
The Army Corps believes approximately 130,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils will require excavation and disposal from the Luckey site as part of a $244-million federal cleanup, Buechi said. A cubic yard of soil weighs about one ton.
Additionally, about 1,000 tons of radioactive scrap metal was shipped to the Luckey site in the early 1950s, in anticipation of converting the plant back to its original magnesium processing activities. The metal was ultimately stored and never used for magnesium production and must also be removed, he said.
The majority of the material, believed contaminated with only beryllium, is proposed for a specially designated landfill in Northwood, Ohio, Buechi said. Soils with more complicated contamination would head to Wayne Disposal under the plan, he said.
"The two different facilities have different waste acceptance criteria," Buechi said. "If the criteria aren't met for the Northwood facility, we would look at the U.S. Ecology Michigan facility as the next proposed location."
Radioactive waste from former Ohio military supplier headed to Michigan
First thing that immediately came to mind is that a guy must have decided this. How do we know this? Because moving crap from one area and putting it in another area not in the same state is not cleaning.
Secondly, it's a shame that people are hell bent on turning Michigan into the armpit of 'Merica.
The process of extracting beryllium over the years left behind low-level radioactive material that's naturally occurring in soils and rock — radioactivity that became more concentrated as the leftover materials accumulated, said Stephen Buechi, the Army Corps' project manager for the Luckey site cleanup.
"It's above cleanup levels that are established that look at potential long-term risks for exposures to the soils," he said.
The Army Corps believes approximately 130,000 cubic yards of contaminated soils will require excavation and disposal from the Luckey site as part of a $244-million federal cleanup, Buechi said. A cubic yard of soil weighs about one ton.
Additionally, about 1,000 tons of radioactive scrap metal was shipped to the Luckey site in the early 1950s, in anticipation of converting the plant back to its original magnesium processing activities. The metal was ultimately stored and never used for magnesium production and must also be removed, he said.
The majority of the material, believed contaminated with only beryllium, is proposed for a specially designated landfill in Northwood, Ohio, Buechi said. Soils with more complicated contamination would head to Wayne Disposal under the plan, he said.
"The two different facilities have different waste acceptance criteria," Buechi said. "If the criteria aren't met for the Northwood facility, we would look at the U.S. Ecology Michigan facility as the next proposed location."
Radioactive waste from former Ohio military supplier headed to Michigan
First thing that immediately came to mind is that a guy must have decided this. How do we know this? Because moving crap from one area and putting it in another area not in the same state is not cleaning.
Secondly, it's a shame that people are hell bent on turning Michigan into the armpit of 'Merica.
