Tonawanda, New York, Landfill Site

Background

The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission established the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) in 1974 to remediate sites with leftover radioactive contamination from Manhattan Project and U.S. Atomic Energy Commission operations. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) began investigating the Tonawanda, New York, Landfill Site in the early 1990s, and it was formally accepted into FUSRAP as a vicinity property of the Tonawanda, New York, Site (Linde Air Products) in 1992. Congress transferred administration and execution of FUSRAP site remediation from DOE to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in October 1997. USACE continued the investigation and began remediation in 2019. Remedial action was completed in 2020, and in 2022 USACE released the Site Closeout Report.

History

Between 1942 and 1946, the Manhattan Engineer District and the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor agency to DOE, contracted Linde Air Products division of Union Carbide to process uranium. Processing and disposal activities created contamination in parts of the company’s property and buildings, as well as at sites close to the Linde site. Cleanup and relocation of solid processing wastes caused contamination in other areas of Tonawanda where the waste was disposed (e.g., Tonawanda North, New York, Site Units 1 and 2 and Tonawanda Landfill). The Town of Tonawanda operated the Tonawanda Landfill as a municipal landfill from the 1930s to 1989, accepting a variety of waste, including incinerator ash, sewage sludge, construction debris, and municipal and yard waste.

Following an aerial gamma survey in 1991 of areas surrounding the Linde site, investigators determined there were solid processing wastes in the Tonawanda Landfill as well as in Tonawanda North Units 1 and 2. USACE completed the Remedial Investigation and baseline risk assessment (BRA) in 2005. The BRA initially concluded the risks to human health and the environment were within acceptable limits for current and future site land uses established by the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, also called the National Contingency Plan.

After the proposed plan was released in 2007, USACE reviewed public comments and split the 170-acre landfill property into two operable units, known as OUs. USACE named the southern area, a 115-acre parcel known as the mudflats, the Mudflats OU. The Mudflats OU Record of Decision (ROD), released in 2008, determined the Mudflats OU didn’t need any further remedial action. USACE named the northern area, a 55-acre parcel, the Landfill OU.

USACE began additional groundwater, surface water, and soil sampling in 2009 and continued sampling through 2011. The additional data used to update the 2005 BRA concluded the landfill surface as it was set up at the time of the update posed no risks to human health from potential exposures to FUSRAP-related material. However, if the surface over the area with the FUSRAP-related material wasn’t maintained, natural processes could expose the FUSRAP-related material over time, which could raise site users’ and trespassers' risks above the National Contingency Plan acceptable risk range.

A revised BRA and the Landfill OU Record of Decision were released in 2017. The ROD called for remedial action to dig up contaminated soil and debris to 5 feet below ground surface and refill it with clean soil. USACE began cleaning up the Tonawanda Landfill site in May 2019 and finished excavating the soil in December 2019. USACE completed final grading and site restoration in summer 2020. Once USACE finished its cleanup responsibilities, it shipped 3,476 cubic yards, or about 5,000 tons, of radiologically contaminated soil and debris by rail to a Belleville, Michigan, disposal cell.

USACE’s Site Closeout Report outlines all removal and cleanup activities at the Tonawanda Landfill site. USACE transferred the site to the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management (LM) for long-term surveillance and maintenance in May 2024.

Final Conditions

USACE remediated the Tonawanda Landfill site under FUSRAP in compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act. LM’s long-term surveillance and maintenance responsibilities consist of managing site records, responding to stakeholder inquiries, and performing site inspections every five years to verify the remedy is performing as expected.

After closing the municipal landfill in 2024, the Town of Tonawanda continues to monitor and maintain the landfill cap. LM maintains an easement with the Town of Tonawanda to inspect the site and provide periodic long-term stewardship reports to regulators.   

For more information about the Tonawanda FUSRAP Site, view the fact sheet.