DECOMMISSIONING THE DOE'S OLDEST FACILITY VIA A CERCLA REMOVAL ACTION

If a DOE audience was questioned about what was the oldest DOE facility to be decommissioned, various answers could include: the Hanford B Reactor, the University of Chicago stadium, or even the radium and uranium sites dating back to Madam Curie’s experiments. Who would believe that the DOE decommissioned a facility constructed in 1827, and modified in 1895? The Miami-Erie Canal was constructed in 1827-1835 to carry barge traffic from Lake Erie to the Ohio River at Cincinnati. A one (1) mile section of the canal adjacent to the DOE Mound site was contaminated by Plutonium-238 in 1969. DOE with input from a group of stakeholders, decided in 1994 to voluntarily conduct a clean up pursuant to Section 104 of CERCLA. The story of the canal cleanup covers several notable issues.