Colonie Site Background

Description

The original Colonie FUSRAP Site, located at 1130 Central Avenue in the Town of Colonie, consisted of 11.2 acres and 56 vicinity properties. The 11.2-acre site was owned and operated by National Lead Industries from 1937 to 1984. An industrial facility on the site was used for electroplating and manufacturing various components from uranium and thorium. Properties in vicinity of the site were contaminated through plant smokestack releases into the air. Contaminated casting sand and debris were disposed of in the former Patroon Lake area on the site. Through these and other practices on-site, radioactive, and chemical contaminants entered the environment - mainly uranium, thorium, and lead. The New York State Supreme Court shut down the National Lead plant in 1984.

From 1984 to fall 1997, the Colonie Site was managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). During this time, DOE investigated the site and began the cleanup process - 53 vicinity properties were remediated and all National Lead buildings were demolished. An Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis, finalized in 1995, outlined the site remedy selected by DOE.

In 1997, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assumed control of the site and the responsibility for the remaining cleanup activities. The Corps is close to completing the remediation of the former National Lead Industries site (11.2-acre area) and 1 remaining vicinity property - the CSX rail property - that contains residual radioactive contamination from airborne deposition.

USACE is utilizing Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) guidelines to remediate the Colonie Site. The CERCLA process was established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate contaminated site cleanups.

Authorization

Authority for remediating the Colonie site was assigned to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by the US Congress through the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of 1984. DOE placed the site in their Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) as a decontamination and research development project. In October 1997, authority for executing FUSRAP was transferred from DOE to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) by further Congressional action.

Project Status

On-site Soil Removal Action

The Corps' finalized an Action Memorandum on December 26, 2001, slating the site for cleanup under removal action Alternative 2B - Large-scale Excavation and Disposal. The Action Memorandum resulted from the Corps' reevaluation of remedial alternatives from DOE's 1995 Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis. DOE had selected removal action Alternative 3B - Moderate Excavation and Cap and Cover, which called for leaving some uranium-contaminated soils on-site under a gravel and earthen cap. The Corps' decision to implement Alternative 2B was due to community concerns; technical and regulatory difficulties with elements of the DOE selected plan, and the availability of more cost-efficient off-site disposal facilities. Under the Corps’ plan, soils with concentrations in excess of revised radiological and metals removal action goals are being excavated and disposed off-site.

The soil cleanup goals for the removal action plan are 35 picocuries/gram (pCi/g) for uranium-238, 2.8 pCi/g for thorium-232, 450 milligrams/kilogram (mg/kg) for total lead, 1,912 mg/kg for total copper, and 7.4 mg/kg for total arsenic. Clean soil has been placed over remediated areas, leaving the site available for future development.

USACE encountered a trend of greater volumes of contaminated soil in the central and northern areas of the site and conducted additional characterization sampling across the remaining portion of the site in fiscal year 2004. The sampling data indicated both radiological and lead contamination of the soil at significantly greater depths than originally planned based on previous work performed by DOE. As a result of those findings, the volume of soil to be removed increased substantially.

As of August 2006, 23 areas of the site have undergone final closure in accordance with the Final Status Survey (FSS) Plan. Closure entails the verification of final sampling data to ensure compliance with cleanup criteria established by the Corps and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) as outlined in the Finalized Action Memorandum. Upon determination that the analytical data from an area meets the Final Status Survey cleanup criteria, the area is backfilled with clean off-site soils from NYSDEC permitted sources and compacted to ensure long-term stability. As of mid-September 2006, 192,080 tons of backfill material has been placed on site.

The last two remaining FSS units (Unit 123 and Unit 124) were completed in late September 2006. The cleaned areas of the site are shown in green on the Final Status Survey Map.

CSX Railroad Vicinity Property

In 2004, an investigation of the CSX Railroad Vicinity Property, which is adjacent to the Colonie FUSRAP Site, was conducted to characterize radiologically contaminated surface soils believed to have been from airborne sources. An Engineering Evaluation and Cost Analysis (EE/CA) was developed to evaluate removal action alternatives for remediating the CSX property. The CSX property consists of 6.5 acres and is owned by CSX Corporation, which maintains an active high-speed rail line that runs through the southern portion of the property. The portion of the CSX property north of the high-speed rail line and utility spur line is used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to transport waste materials from the Site to disposal facilities.

The Corps evaluated four remedial alternatives in the CSX Vicinity Property EE/CA. The following alternatives were considered as potential approaches for remediating the CSX property:

• Alternative 1: No Action;
• Alternative 2: Land Use Controls;
• Alternative 3: Removal of Radiologically Contaminated Soil Above 96 pCi/g, Off-site Disposal of the Soil, With Impacts to the High-speed Rail Line and the Utility Rail Spur;
• Alternative 4: Removal of Radiologically Contaminated Soil Above 96 Picocuries/Gram (pCi/g), Off-site Disposal of the Soil, With No Impact to the High-speed Rail Line or the Utility Rail Spur; and
• Alternative 5: Removal of Radiologically Contaminated Soil Above 96 pCi/g, Off-site Disposal of the Soil, With No Impact to the High-speed Rail Line.

Based on a detailed evaluation of each alternative with respect to its effectiveness, implementability and cost, the preferred alternative for remediating the CSX property is Alternative 4 – Removal of Radiologically Contaminated Soil Above 96 Picocuries/Gram (pCi/g), Off-site Disposal of the Soil, With No Impact to the High-speed Rail Line or the Utility Rail Spur. This alternative should achieve long-term compliance with Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements at a reasonable cost, within a relatively short time-frame, and with minimal disruption to local and regional commerce.

An Action Memorandum decision document was signed on 27 March 2006, formally approving the remedial action for the CSX property. Cleanup of the CSX property will begin in September 2006 and is expected to take approximately 2 to 3 months.

Semi-Annual Groundwater Monitoring

Comprehensive groundwater sampling of all monitoring wells on and off-site is conducted on a semi-annual basis. These results are summarized in reports and are available in the local repository (Colonie Library). The groundwater in and around the site is not being used, since the City of Albany supplies drinking water to Yardboro Avenue residents. Semi-annual monitoring is expected to continue through 2008.

Feasibility Study

The Groundwater Feasibility Study (FS) was re-initiated in the spring of 2006. The FS had been placed on hold in 2005 due to the constant flux of groundwater contaminant concentrations during active soil source area removal. A feasibility study generated at that time would not have reflected actual site conditions since groundwater monitoring reports were showing that chlorinated volatile organic solvent concentrations on-site were decreasing significantly as the soil source areas were being removed. With the completion of the removal these source areas, appropriate remedial alternatives can now be evaluated consistent with actual groundwater contamination levels. USACE will now complete its Groundwater Feasibility Study (FS), identifying and evaluating potential remedial technologies that can be used to cleanup the contaminated groundwater associated with the Colonie Site. The FS Report will be released to the public when finalized.

Proposed Plan

Upon completion of the groundwater FS phase, USACE will prepare a Proposed Plan (PP) that will clearly identify to the public what the preferred groundwater cleanup alternative is for the site. The main purpose of the PP is to obtain public participation in the remedy selection process and to ensure that regulatory requirements are fulfilled. The PP provides a brief summary of all alternatives studied in the detailed analysis phase of the Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study, as well as the key factors that lead to the selection of the preferred alternative. The PP does not select the remedial action; it merely sets forth the preferred alternative. The PP will be released upon completion of the FS Report and will be made available for public comment.

Record of Decision

USACE will prepare a site-wide Record of Decision (ROD) that will take into consideration new information and comments received during the PP public comment period. The ROD will document the selected remedy for the groundwater, as well as serve to certify that the current soil removal action is the final remedy for the main site and vicinity properties. The ROD will be submitted to NYSDEC for review and written approval. Once signed, USACE will publish a notice of availability and make the ROD available to the public before beginning the response action for groundwater.

Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment

Contaminated groundwater from the Colonie Site has been slowly migrating off-site. Using data collected during the Groundwater Remedial Investigation, USACE prepared a baseline Human Health Risk Assessment and a Screening-Level Ecological Risk Assessment to evaluate actual and potential effects on human health and the environment posed by the Site. The risk assessment (RA) evaluates the potential risk to human health from exposure to chemicals by residents currently living near the site.

The human health groundwater assessment considered on-site and off-site land use scenarios. The on-site scenario assumes potential future residential development of the site, with a variety of exposure pathways evaluated. The off-site scenario evaluated vapor intrusion from volatile organic chemicals from shallow groundwater exposure since off-site residences utilize public water for drinking and showering purposes. The human health surface water and sediment assessment considered incidental recreational contact with surface water and sediment associated with the unnamed tributary that receives both surface water run-off and groundwater from the site. The final Risk Assessment was released to the public in September 2004.

Indoor Air Survey

USACE conducted an indoor air survey on properties adjacent to the site along the north side of Yardboro Avenue between 2002 and 2006. The survey was designed to determine if contamination detected in off-site groundwater had impacted air quality in basements of homes along Yardboro Avenue. The sampling results from the indoor ambient air survey were published in an Indoor Air Data Assessment Report, which was issued to NYSDEC and the New York State Department of Health. This report is available to the public at the local information repository. All properties involved in the survey have been determined to require no further monitoring.

Patroon Creek Site Investigation

In November 2002, NYSDEC provided the Corps with the gamma spectroscopy and isotopic thorium results from the analysis of archived core samples taken from 3-Mile Reservoir. These core samples were obtained from Dr. John Arnason of the State University of New York at Albany. The samples were analyzed at the EPA’s National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory in Montgomery, Alabama. The results of the isotopic uranium analysis were provided to the Corps in February 2003. The analytical results indicated that the sediments within the reservoir contain depleted uranium.

In the fall of 2003, USACE conducted a comprehensive Site Investigation of Three-Mile Reservoir, the unnamed tributary and the portion of Patroon Creek from the site downstream to the Reservoir. The Patroon Creek Site Investigation Report, which summarizes field sampling results, was placed in the Colonie Site information repository in late September 2004. Results confirm prior sampling by the Department of Energy indicating limited sediment impacts related to the former National Lead Site at the outfall of the stormwater drain near the CSX railway. Depleted uranium contamination was found in the sediment between 1.5 and 2.5 feet beneath the ground surface. At these depths, there is no current risk of human exposure. The results of the investigation in Patroon Creek and 3-Mile Reservoir were all below site clean up criteria and therefore no further action is recommended.