Notice of Floodplain and Wetland Involvement for the Ventron Site, Essex County, Massachusetts

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Notice of Floodplain and Wetland Involvement for the Ventron

Site, Essex County, Massachusetts

AGENCY: Former Sites Restoration Division, Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of floodplain and wetland involvement.

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SUMMARY: DOE proposes to remediate sediment and soil containing

elevated levels of uranium-238 from a floodplain and wetland, a

floodplain and wetland buffer zone, and from the Massachusetts coastal

zone in Essex County, Massachusetts. In accordance with 10 CFR 1022,

DOE has prepared a floodplain and wetlands assessment and will perform

this proposed action in a manner so as to avoid or minimize potential

harm to or within the affected floodplain and wetland resources.

DATES: Comments are due to the address below no later than April 5,

1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS PROPOSED ACTION OR TO COMMENT ON THE

ACTION, CONTACT: Mr. Jim Kopotic, Ventron Site Manager, Former Sites

Restoration Division, U.S. Department of Energy, P.O. Box 2001, Oak

Ridge, TN 37831-8541, Phone: (423) 576-9441, FAX: (423) 576-0956.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON GENERAL DOE FLOODPLAIN/WETLANDS

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW REQUIREMENTS, CONTACT: Carol Borgstrom, Director,

Office of NEPA Oversight, EH-42, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000

Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-4600 or (800)

472-2756.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Ventron is a privately-owned site that

processed natural uranium oxide, salts, and metal between 1942 and 1948

for the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) and later for the Atomic

Energy Commission (AEC). No enriched or depleted uranium was used at

the site. Prior to and subsequent to MED- and AEC-related activities at

the site, other radioactive elements including thorium compounds and

hazardous chemicals were processed at the Ventron site in work

unrelated to MED, AEC, or DOE contracts. DOE has authority at the site

for remediation of media containing elevated levels of natural uranium

(uranium-238). DOE is remediating the

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Ventron site in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental

Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The Ventron site is

currently an inactive facility and is being cleaned up by the current

owner, Morton International, in a separate but related action.

Risks from exposure to radioactive materials at the Ventron site

for future workers and residents at the site exceed DOE's public dose

limit (100 mrem/yr), thereby meeting DOE's criteria for conducting

removal actions to prevent potential future exposures to nearby humans

under the no-action alternative. Although sediment and soil with

elevated levels of uranium-238 at the Ventron site pose no immediate

threats to human or ecological health, the remediation of the site

could proceed to prevent radiation exposure to workers involved in

Morton's remedial activities.

The implementation of the remedial action alternatives at the

Ventron site would involve activity in a floodplain and a tidal

wetland, a floodplain and wetland buffer zone, and the Massachusetts

coastal zone. In accordance with DOE regulations for compliance with

floodplain and wetlands environmental review requirements (10 CFR

1022), DOE will prepare a floodplain and wetland assessment for this

proposed DOE action. DOE will evaluate remedial options affecting two

media at the site: harbor sediment and on-site soil and furnace ash.

Remedial action for the affected harbor sediment may include: no

action, or complete removal of sediment containing uranium levels above

DOE guidelines. Remedial action for on-site soil and furnace ash may

include: no action or, complete removal of soil and furnace ash

containing uranium levels above DOE guidelines. Access to affected

sediment and soil may require decontamination and demolition of

structures in the floodplain and wetland buffer zone and Massachusetts

coastal zone. DOE would temporarily store excavated material onsite

before transport offsite to an approved, licensed waste disposal

facility. A floodplain and wetlands assessment that incorporates the

values of the National Environmental Policy Act will be included in the

engineering evaluation and cost analysis being prepared for the

proposed project. Upon completion and approval of the assessment DOE

will publish a floodplain Statement of Findings in the Federal Register

that describes the proposed action and measures DOE would implement to

prevent environmental damage to floodplain resources at the Ventron

site.

Issued in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on March 8, 1996.

James L. Elmore,

Alternate NEPA Compliance Officer.

[FR Doc. 96-6838 Filed 3-20-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6450-01-P