Preparations for the cleanup of a nuclear waste burial site in Parks Township can begin again after an almost 18-month delay.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers believe they have addressed issues with a bid protest and lifted a stop-order Tuesday on the $350 million federal contract to clean up the nuclear waste dump.
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The 44-acre dump, officially known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area (SLDA), is off of Route 66 near Kiskimere Street. It was used in the 1960s by the Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. to bury radioactive waste materials in shallow pits.
The company, under contracts with the then-Atomic Energy Commission, produced nuclear fuels for Navy submarines, power plants and other, more secret government programs.
BWX Technologies, which currently owns the site, is mandated by federal regulation to pay for at least a portion of the government-ordered cleanup, according to the Corps.
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The dump is scheduled to be readied for excavation and sorting the nuclear materials in mid-2020 with digging expected to begin in 2021.
“We want more than anything to make positive progress and remediate the site,” Molloy said. “We really want to get out there and start moving dirt.”
Molloy cautioned, however, that there could be future delays given the project’s size, scope and complexity.
The Parks Township cleanup is among the three most important in the country for sites with contamination from nuclear weapon production for the Cold War arms race, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, which administers the program.
Mary Ann Thomas is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Mary Ann at 724-226-4691, mthomas@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MaThomas_Trib.
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