Background

The Attleboro, Massachusetts, Site was remediated under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) and under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). FUSRAP was established in 1974 to remediate sites where radioactive contamination remained from Manhattan Project and early U.S. Atomic Energy Commission operations.

History

The former Shpack Landfill operated from 1946 through 1970, accepting domestic and industrial waste, including chemical and low-activity radioactive waste. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) initiated an investigation of the Shpack Landfill site in 1978 after receiving information from a concerned citizen. NRC’s investigation concluded that radioactive material had been improperly disposed of at this private landfill. Their investigation concluded that wastes from nuclear fuel production had been disposed of at the site from about 1957 to 1966. NRC found depleted, natural, and enriched uranium at the landfill and determined that the source of the uranium materials was probably contract work performed for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) by M&C Nuclear Inc., which merged with Texas Instruments Inc. in 1959. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) performed a radiological survey and an interim removal action at the site in 1980. The site was then added to FUSRAP for radiological cleanup in 1981. Several additional investigations have been performed to investigate non-FUSRAP chemical contamination and in 1986 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed the site on the National Priorities List (NPL) for cleanup under CERCLA.

Congress assigned responsibility for FUSRAP cleanups to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 1997 and they began cleaning up radioactive contamination at the landfill in 2002. USACE completed their cleanup activities in 2011. Following the FUSRAP cleanup, the EPA acted as lead agency for the CERCLA cleanup of the non-FUSRAP contamination, which was completed in 2014.

Final Conditions

EPA announced that the entire site met cleanup requirements in 2016 and delisted the Shpack Landfill site from the NPL in 2017. USACE issued a site closeout report and Declaration of Response Action Completion in 2017. Small areas of inaccessible FUSRAP contamination remain near some utility power poles, which are managed with institutional controls by the National Grid utility company.

USACE transferred responsibility for long-term stewardship of FUSRAP responsibilities at the Attleboro site to LM in January 2019. No monitoring, maintenance, or site inspections are required of LM whose long-term surveillance and maintenance (LTS&M) responsibilities consist of managing site records and responding to stakeholder inquiries. Other stakeholder LTS&M requirements include groundwater monitoring, institutional control monitoring, five-year reviews, and annual reporting.

For more information about the Attleboro FUSRAP, view the fact sheet.