The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has issued a final contingent hazardous waste permit modification for the Bannister Federal Complex in Kansas City, which was previously used for the manufacture of non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons.
A 225-acre portion of the old complex is set to be transferred to a private developer and redeveloped for mixed use, now that those production operations are housed in a new facility. Meanwhile, the 225 acres are in the final remedy stage for soil and groundwater contamination, the state of Missouri said Monday. Existing buildings are scheduled for demolition and the ground surfaced for regrading, it said.
Energy Department contractor Honeywell in 2013 began moving its Kansas City plant operations in support of the nuclear stockpile from the Bannister Federal Complex to the new National Security Campus, a 1.5-million-square-foot, $687 million facility just miles south of the old complex. The National Security Campus was built by developer CenterPoint-Zimmer and leased to the U.S. General Services Administration, then sub-leased to the NNSA.
The NNSA and GSA are now conducting “long-term monitoring and corrective action investigation and remediation activities” at the Bannister complex under hazardous waste management permits issued by the state of Missouri and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The NNSA, in its annual contractor performance evaluations, has praised Honeywell’s support of disposition activities at the Bannister complex, including removing chemically contaminated equipment and material from the site, as well as conducting auctions to help remove excess personal property.
The full House of Representatives will soon consider its fiscal 2018 energy and water appropriations bill, which would give the NNSA $13.9 billion. Under the agency’s weapons activities account, $2.8 billion would go toward infrastructure and operations, maintaining this year’s funding level for work that includes demolition activities at the Bannister complex.
The NNSA in its fiscal 2018 budget proposal requested a total of $663.7 million for the Kansas City National Security Complex.
