ARMY CORPS WILL MAINTAIN RESPONSIBILITY FOR SLDA CLEANUP

Pittsburgh, Pa. was more complex than anticipated, the Corps will maintain stewardship of the cleanup there. Work at the SLDA site, part of the Corps’ Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), was stopped when site contractor Cabrera self-reported a safety violation, and subsequently greater quantities of complex materials were discovered. That discovery caused the cleanup estimate to balloon from an estimated $170 million to as much as $500 million, and the Corps announced that they were considering handing the project over to another federal agency better suited to handle the work. However, after hearing from local stakeholders at public meetings this summer, the Corps this week said it will continue to head up work there and begin the search for a new onsite contractor. The 44-acre SLDA site is contaminated with nuclear waste left behind from operations conducted in the 1960s by Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. and Atlantic Richfield Co. Babcock and Wilcox most recently owned the land before the plant closed in the early 1980s.