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Coordinates: 41°56′36″N 71°14′06″W / 41.94333°N 71.23500°W / 41.94333; -71.23500
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Shpack Landfill
Superfund site
Rusting chemical waste drums at Shpack Landfill site in May 2003.
Geography
TownNorton
CountyBristol
StateMassachusetts
Shpack Landfill is located in Massachusetts
Shpack Landfill
Shpack Landfill's location in Massachusetts
Information
CERCLIS IDMAD980503973
ContaminantsBase/Neutral and Acid Extractable Compounds
Dioxins/Dibenzofurans
Halogenated SVOCs
Inorganics
Metals
PAH
PCBs
Persistent Organic Pollutants
Pesticides
Radioactive waste
VOCs[1]
Progress
ProposedOctober 15, 1984
ListedOctober 6, 1986
List of Superfund sites

Shpack Landfill is a hazardous and radioactive waste site in Norton, Massachusetts. After assessment by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it was added to the National Priorities List in October 1986 for long-term remedial action. The site cleanup is directed by the federal Superfund program.[2] The Superfund site covers 9.4 acres, mostly within Norton, with 3.4 acres in the adjoining city of Attleboro. The Norton site was operated as an open burning dump accepting domestic and industrial wastes, including low-level radioactive waste, between 1946 and 1965.[3][4][5] The source of most of the radioactive waste consisting of uranium and radium was Attleboro based Metals & Controls Inc. From 1940 through the 1960s Metals & Controls used radium to produce luminous, tipped aircraft switches and circuit breakers. Approximately seven curies of radium were removed from the Shpack site during its remediation. The Shpack site's predecessor, the Finberg Field town dump in Attleboro, was also found to be contaminated with radium bearing aircraft switch components.Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). After the Finberg Field dump closed in 1946 waste disposal began at the Shpack dump.

Uranium is the second radiological contaminant at the Shpack dump. It too came from Metals & Controls. In 1952 Metals & Controls became the first non-government owned facility to process enriched uranium for the Atomic Energy Commission. Metals & Controls early uranium work was performed by its General Plate division. General Plate was a large manufacturer of precision rolled gold plate, tubing, electrical contact material and clad metals. By 1954 eighty of Metals & Controls two thousand employees were fabricating uranium. Metals & Controls early nuclear work included fabricating nuclear fuel for the Navy's first nuclear submarine, the Nautilus. By 1955 Metals & Controls had fabricated uranium for the University of California's Lawrence Radiation Lab, Los Alamos Laboratory, Rocky Flats Plant and General Electric's Nuclear Aircraft Propulsion Project.

In 1956 Metals & Controls built a new 100,000 square foot nuclear fuel plant that doubled in size over the next several years. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Metals & Controls was the largest fabricator of enriched uranium submarine fuel for the U.S. Navy. Reactor vessels arrived at Metals & Controls plant by rail where they were loaded with fuel and fully instrumented. Metals & Controls also performed toll rolling of enriched uranium for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. In 1959 when Metals & Controls merged with Texas Instruments its Attleboro fuel plant employed one thousand people and was the largest such facility in the world.[6][7][8][9]

Metals & Controls co-founder, Vannevar Bush, headed the US World War II atomic bomb program and was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's nuclear policy advisor.

Bush's World War II assistant, Carroll Wilson, was appointed the first General Manager of the US Atomic Energy Commission in 1946. After Wilson left the Commission in 1950 he was hired by Metals & Controls. In 1952 twenty Metals & Controls began fabricating enriched uranium for the Atomic Energy Commision and Wilson was promoted to Vice President. Metals & Controls nuclear business grew rapidly with Wilson being named company President in 1956.

The Shpack dump was shut down in 1965 by a court order after neighbors went to court to stop the burning of wastes.[10] A series of spectacular chemical waste fires involving hundreds of barrels of chemicals at the adjoining Attleboro town dump was the basis for the neighbors legal action.

Geology

The site's geology broadly comprises glacial deposits 4.5 - 7.6 m deep (15 – 25 ft) overlying bedrock. Portions of the Shpack dump are also underlain by 1-2 meters of peat associated with long standing wetlands. Bedrock under the site belongs to the Carboniferous Rhode Island Formation and is part of the regional Narragansett Basin sequence. Basement beneath the Shpack site consists of folded and fractured sandstone, greywacke, shale and conglomerate. Groundwater in the area is produced from bedrock and shallow overburden aquifers.[11][12] The water table is at or just below the surface for most of the year. The area is generally low and swampy with standing water.[11] Almost all wastes at the Shpack dump were below the top of the water table. Shielding provided by the water reduced surface radiation levels concealing most of the buried radioactive materials.

Geography

The Shpack dump consisted of 9.4 acres that straddled the border between Norton and Attleboro. Approximately 6.0 acres in Norton were owned by the Shpack family who operated it as a landfill. This land was purchased by the town's Norton Conservation Commission in 1981 using funds donated by Texas Instruments. In 1981 the US Department of Energy designated the Shpack dump as the highest priority site for remediation in its Formaly Utilized Sites Program (FUSRAP).

Approximately one third of the Shpack dump was located in Attleboro and operated as part of the 1950s and 1960s Attleboro town dump. The site is mostly level and was formerly a flat wetlands area. The site is bounded in the north by Peckham Street/Union Road, by Chartley Swamp in the south and east, and by the ALI landfill in the west.[13][14]

History

The Shpack landfill was situated on land owned by Isadore and Lea Shpack. Isadore Shpack, was a Russian immigrant and retired New York City municipal trash employee. Shpack began allowing dumping on the property in an effort to fill in the portion that was a swamp. He salvaged scrap metals from the dump and planned to raise an orchard and cultivate vegetables on the reclaimed land.[7][15] At the time Shpack operated his dump chemical and hazardous waste disposal was not regulated by Massachusetts or the US. The disposal of radioactive waste, however, including uranium was regulated under the material licensing requirements detailed in the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. The owner and operator of the Shpack dump was never issued or applied to the Atomic Energy Commission for a source or special nuclear material license making it illegal for him to receive, possess or acquire any type of uranium. NRC investigation report 078-154 documents that Metals & Controls and Texas Instruments workers brought up to half a dozen truck loads of waste per day to the Shpack dump from the company's nuclear fuel plant. Over the course of a decade tons of uranium waste averaging seven percent enrichment were discarded at the unlicensed Shpack dump. The decade long use of the Shpack property to dispose of low level nuclear fuel manufacturing wastes posed a significant health, safety and environmental threat. The Shpack dump's unlicensed status also meant uranium discarded there constituted an illegal transfer of nuclear material to an unlicensed party. These illegal transfers occurred while the former head of the US World War II atomic bomb project, Vannevar Bush, and the first General Manager of the US Atomic Energy Commission, Carroll Wilson, were both corporate officers of Metals & Controls.

completely unregulated dumping and is reported locally to have accepted any type of waste which was refused by the neighbouring municipal landfill.[16]

The ALI landfill was originally Attleboro's municipal dump from the 1940s until 1975. In 1975 it was purchased by Attleboro Landfill Inc. which continued to use it as a landfill until 1995.[17]

Discovery of contamination

In 1978 John Sullivan, a 20-year-old local resident who was also a student at the Florida Institute of Technology, became curious about why snails in the area were losing their shells. As Sullivan worked on this project he began to suspect there was a significant environmental problem that town officials were trying to cover up. Several months later a truck load of nuclear fuel skidded off the highway in Rhode Island during an ice storm. The shipment of nuclear fuel was going to Oak Ridge National Laboratory and had come from Texas Instruments in Attleboro. Six months later he visited the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's public document room in Washington DC and spent a week reviewing thirty years of Metals & Controls and Texas Instruments files. The un-redacted documents included Atomic Energy Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection reports, blue prints, waste disposal manuals, licenses and manufacturing flow charts. On his last day in Washigton Mr. Sullivan phoned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's head of inspection and enforcement from the public document room. They discussed the Shpack dump and Sullivan's belief that radioactive waste had been illegally discarded there. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's inspection chief agreed to visit the Shpack dump within 90 days if Mr. Sullivan sent a letter requesting such a visit. One week later the state of Massachusetts ordered the town of Norton to clear the surface of the Shpack dump and cover the site with two feet of clean fill. The town of Norton was given a thirty day deadline to complete these actions by the state Massachusetts.

Mr. Sullivan lived a mile from the Shpack dump and he discussed his concerns with his neighbors and officials in Attleboro and Norton. Attleboro's Civil Defense Director lent Mr. Sullivan a Geiger Counter and he went to the Shpack property and spoke with Mrs. Shpack. She gave him permission to enter the former dump site where radiation levels hundreds of times higher than naturally occurring background were found.[4][15][18][19] Mr. Sullivan wrote to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission head of inspection and enforcement and told him of the discovery. The Commission carried out its own investigation and confirmed more than one acre of the Shpack dump's surface was contaminated with radioactive materials.[20] The offsite release of nuclear materials documented at the Shpack site came very close to meeting the NRC criteria defining an extraordinary nuclear event.The site was found to contain Radium-226, Radium-228, Uranium-235, Uranium-236 and Uranium-238.[20] The presence of Uranium-236 was indicative of reprocessed reactor fuel being dumped at the site, and testing of Uranium-235 samples demonstrated enrichment as high as 93%.[12] A second survey was conducted in 1980 by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As a result of the Oak Ridge work the Shpack dump was designated the highest priority for remedial action under the U.S. Department of Energy's Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).[12][14] FUSRAP is used to remediate or control sites "where radioactive contamination remains from the early years of the nation's atomic energy program."[13]

Further surveys of the site uncovered extensive contamination with chemical wastes which had been dumped "in both bulk and containerized forms." The metal drums which originally contained the wastes had been emptied, burned and left on the surface of the site.[12] Contaminants included volatile organic compounds (VOCs), heavy metals (e.g. nickel, cadmium, copper, lead and mercury), dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).[14]

Cleanup action

In 1980 the Department Of Energy conducted an emergency cleanup of the site and removed approximately 900 lb of radioactive waste.[14] In 1986 the site was listed as a Superfund site by the EPA.[7] Further studies of the site were carried out during 1992-1993 although no remediation action took place.[14] During 2000-2002 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - which had taken over the FUSRAP program in 1998 - performed "fieldwork" to prepare for a radiological survey and in 2004 the EPA put forward a cleanup plan. The project, estimated to cost $43 million, proposed the removal and disposal of 35,000 yd³ (26,759 m3) of radioactive soil by the Army Corps of Engineers, with a second phase during which the EPA would remove the chemical wastes.[10] Work was expected to begin in early 2005 and be completed by 2006.[21]

Remediation eventually commenced in August 2005 but ceased in July 2006 due to lack of funds. During this time, the Army Corps of Engineers removed 2,700 yd (2,500 m)3) of contaminated soil.[22][23]

Potentially Responsible Parties

On August 15, 2006 the EPA issued special notice letters to fourteen Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP).[24] A PRP is "any individual or company potentially responsible for, or contributing to a spill or other contamination at a Superfund site." In 2009, the following parties signed a consent decree to undertake remediation at the site:[25]

Under the terms of the decree the PRPs would be responsible for funding the remainder of the cleanup at an estimated cost of $29 million. The Town of Norton would not be held financially liable for cleanup costs, but would instead provide access to the site.[19]

Texas Instruments (TI) subsequently filed a complaint alleging that liability for the disposal of radioactive materials relating to its work for the Atomic Energy Commission was subject to indemnity by the Department of Energy. The U.S. Department of Justice then commenced a lawsuit against TI on behalf of the Corps of Engineers, which TI settled in November 2012. TI agreed to pay $15 million towards remediation of the site, without acknowledging liability. The payment went to the Corps of Engineers.[26]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Contaminants of Concern at Shpack Landfill". Superfund Information Systems. United States Environmental Protection Agency. April 19, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  2. ^ "Shpack Landfill". Superfund Site Progress Profile. United States Environmental Protection Agency. April 19, 2013. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  3. ^ "Shpack Landfill, Attleboro and Norton, Massachusetts". Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England. United States Environmental Protection Agency. June 6, 2011. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Preer, Robert (September 23, 2001). "Dispute On Responsibility Halts Cleanup". The Boston Globe. Boston, MA. Retrieved April 21, 2013. – via Highbeam Research (subscription required)
  5. ^ "Shpack Landfill" (PDF). EPA Superfund Record of Decision. United States Environmental Protection Agency. September 30, 2004. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  6. ^ Foster, Rick (October 10, 2010). "Our nuclear legacy". The Sun Chronicle. Attleboro, MA. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c Preer, Robert (September 23, 2001). "Neighbors Still Waiting For Cleanup Of Landfill: Work Was Halted Over Dispute On Responsibility". The Boston Globe. Boston, MA. Retrieved April 21, 2013. – via Highbeam Research (subscription required)
  8. ^ Massey, Joanna (January 25, 2004). "Norton Leaders Upset At US Delay On Cleanup: Agencies Called Uncoordinated". The Boston Globe. Boston, MA. Retrieved April 21, 2013. – via Highbeam Research (subscription required)
  9. ^ "Shpack Landfill (State of Massachusetts)". Sites Undergoing Decommissioning. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. March 29, 2012. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
  10. ^ a b "EPA plans $43 million cleanup for Attleboro, Mass., Landfill". The Providence Journal. Providence, RI. October 5, 2004. Retrieved April 21, 2013. – via Highbeam Research (subscription required)
  11. ^ a b "Geology, Soils, Topography" (PDF). Open Space and Recreation Plan 2011-2018. Town of Norton. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  12. ^ a b c d Bechtel National Inc. Advanced Technology Division (May 1984). Radiological Survey Of The Former Shpack Landfill (PDF). United States Department of Energy. p. 2-1. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  13. ^ a b Evaluation of Environmental Concerns Related to the Shpack Landfill Superfund Site. Massachusetts Department of Public Health. July 15, 2011. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e "Shpack Landfill Superfund Site Norton MA: Proposed Plan" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. June 2004. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  15. ^ a b "Environmental Challenges" (PDF). Open Space and Recreation Plan 2011-2018. Town of Norton. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  16. ^ EPA Workshop on Radioactively Contaminated Sites. United States Environmental Protection Agency. March 1990. pp. 69–72.
  17. ^ "Attleboro Landfill Closure Project: Questions and Answers" (PDF). Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. August 14, 2012. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  18. ^ Graf, Heather A. (March 2, 2007). "Delving into past of the Shpack landfill". Norton Mirror. Raynham, MA. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  19. ^ a b Legere, Christine (March 15, 2009). "Shpack cleanup to be completed by 2012, US says". The Boston Globe. Boston, MA. Retrieved April 22, 2013.
  20. ^ a b "Shpack Landfill Superfund Site: Record Of Decision Summary" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. September 2004. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  21. ^ Sweeney, Emily (October 10, 2004). "Plan Finalized To Rid Landfill Of Radioactive Dirt". The Boston Globe. Boston, MA. Retrieved April 23, 2013. – via Highbeam Research (subscription required)
  22. ^ "EPA, Army Corps Of Engineers To Hold Public Information Meeting On Shpack Landfill". Federal News Service. October 30, 2006. Retrieved April 23, 2013. – via Highbeam Research (subscription required)
  23. ^ "EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to Hold Public Information Meeting on Shpack Landfill". News Releases from Region 1. United States Environmental Protection Agency. October 30, 2006. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  24. ^ "EPA and the US Army Corps of Engineers to Hold Public Information Meeting on Shpack Landfill". News Releases from Region 1. May 22, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  25. ^ "Settlement Clears Way for Cleanup of Massachusetts Superfund Site". Ecology, Environment & Conservation. December 26, 2008. Retrieved April 21, 2013. – via Highbeam Research (subscription required)
  26. ^ Jean, Sheryl (November 29, 2012). "Texas Instruments agrees to pay $15 million to the U.S. government to help clean up the Shpack landfill superfund site in Massachusetts". The Dallas Morning News. Dallas, TX. Retrieved April 21, 2013.

9. nevar Bush, Led A-Bomb Project Washington pOST June 30, 1974

External media

  • Shpack Landfill Update (September 13, 2012) - Locally produced video from Norton Community Television studios.

41°56′36″N 71°14′06″W / 41.94333°N 71.23500°W / 41.94333; -71.23500

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