Superfund Case Study

1) What is the “Superfund” law? When was it created?
2) Using this site: http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/ identify one brownfield/Superfund site within 200 miles of Louisville and respond to the following items.
a. Where is it located?
U.S. Doe Gaseous Diffusion Plant
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
b. What contaminant(s) is/are present?
Technetium, uranium, thorium, plutonium, neptunium, trichloroethylene, polychlorinated biphenyls
c. What affects does that contaminant have on?
1. People
Technetium, as with other radioactive material there is the chance of cancer, and other health conditions from exposure to radioactivity.
2. Environment
Technetium, this is very bad for the environment it has a very long half-life, 212,000 years,

Tc-99 remains in the environment. Air, sea water, soils, plants and animals.
d. What industry/action was using the site during the contamination?
PGDP provides fuel rods to nuclear power plants, they are still in operation.

e. What is the current status of cleanup at that site?
Physical cleanup activities are underway, but difficult to do at this time because the company is still in operation.
Once PGDP eventually shuts down, DOE plans to take more cleanup actions before transferring the site to a new owner.
3) Where/ how do nuclear facilities in the US store their wastes?
Most Nuclear Waste is stored where it is produced.
They first put the nuclear waste in cooling tanks for five years.
Dry cask or vaults 40-50 years the heat and radioactivity have fallen to one thousandth of the level at removal. Until the radioactivity has reduced to about 0.1% of its original level.
Then, after forty year’s it’s encapsulated or loaded into casks ready for indefinite storage or permanent disposal underground.

What I would Like to do with is site; I would like to put in place a science center, where children, and adults can learn about environmental science. I feel another great thing that you could have at the facility could be a recycling center, and also a garbage treatment plant. Paducah has two major prisons near it, The Western Kentucky Correctional complex and The Kentucky State Penitentiary; they are both about forty minutes away. Prisons are big sprawling complexes that create a lot of waste, that should be recycled, and what can’t be incinerated

cleanly.
The DOE has done a lot of things at the plant to cut back on pollution.

They have been cleaning up this site, since the 1980’s. “There was contamination in the ground water, and soil, as well as off-sight sediments and surface water.” They have gone in a numerous times and removed contaminated soil, and treated the ground water. The DOE continues to evaluate other ways to continue to clean up the area. The DOE plans on doing an extensive cleanup when PGDP eventually shuts down, and they sell to a new owner. I would use a Geiger counter and go over every inch of the facility, this measures radiation, and remove as much waste as possible. I would remove all equipment from the site and as soon as I was done I would put a clay cap down. I would then build my new facility on top of

it.
I would like to change this polluted property into a re-designed community space. I would also like to have an indoor park or nature preserve on the site. The surrender neighbors of this site have suffered, because of this contamination, and deserve a community they can be proud of. They even had their own drinking water contaminated. I feel a green house would be good at this site as well, to help the people nearby that may have been unable to grow their own garden. I feel there should be solar panels on the new facility. I like this option, because it is the least polluting form of energy. I also feel by using renewable energy, we are showing are commitment to stopping pollution in the area. I feel this is great in step in helping this community to recover from living in a polluted environment. This will also make them feel their lives matter, and give them a better quality of life.

References
http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/
www.scientificamerican.com
www.distance-cities.com