Cleanup of the Parks Township nuclear waste dump could begin again in 2019.
The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $350 million contract to a Tennessee company to clean up the dump site, which contains various kinds of radioactive waste.
The Corps will update residents on the project and water test results on May 24 at Parks Township Volunteer Fire Department.
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The company is expected to begin excavation at the site in July 2019, according to the Corps.
The Corps shut down cleanup of the 44-acre site along Route 66 at Kiskimere Drive in 2011 after unearthing more “special nuclear material” than its contractor or cleanup plans were prepared to handle.
That drove up costs and triggered a yearlong review of the cleanup plan. Additionally, its contractor allegedly mishandled some of the waste, according to the Corps.
Because special nuclear material is potentially suitable for bomb-making, visibly armed federal Homeland Security personnel guarded the site during prior cleanup operations.
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Some local residents will likely be hired for the estimated 10-year cleanup process, Helbling said.
Although he didn’t know how many workers, Helbling said Jacobs would be hiring subcontractors and looking for highly skilled and other workers, as well as local vendors and material suppliers.
“We want opportunities for the remediation to be economically beneficial to the community,” he said.
But the main objective for the long project will continue to be safety, Helbling said.
Read more at Contract awarded for Parks Twp. nuclear dump cleanup
