LOOW-RAB: A community in mutual support
An interesting look into the Interim Waste Containment Site

Lewiston Porter Sentinel, March 15, 2008
by William Boeck, Ph. D.
RAB Radiological Committee chair

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a two-volume “NFSS Remedial Investigation Report” (Sentinel, Dec. 22, 2007), which defines the identity, amount and location of radionuclides and chemicals of concern at the Niagara Falls Storage Site. The Restoration Advisory Board is responsible for facilitating a two-way dialogue between the community and the USACE. Therefore, this is the first part, of a two-part series on the NFSS, to provide some background information to the community. The Niagara Falls Storage Site is located on a section of the former LOOW site in the Town of Lewiston between Pletcher and Balmer roads with CWM Chemical Services to the north and Modern Corporation to the south. In an Interim Waste Containment Structure (IWCS) at the NFSS, there are large quantities of radioactive contaminated soils as well as the residues of uranium extraction from African pitchblende ores (Afrimet residues) from early atomic weapons production. These ores contain high concentrations of radioactive uranium, thorium, radium, radon and lead.

Shown is a circa1985 aerial view of the Niagara Falls Storage Site during construction of the Interim Waste Containment Structure. (photo courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers)

Some high activity residues were shipped to the LOOW during World War II while other radioactive waste shipments to the LOOW followed into the 1950s during the Cold War. The uranium ores were given code names such as: K-65 (residues from high grade -- 35-60 percent uranium -- pitchblende ores from Katanga Province of Congo, the “Belgian Congo”).

This ore provided feed material for the Manhattan Project. While K-65 accounts for an estimated 2 percent of waste volume at NFSS, it represents over 90 percent of radium-226 and thorium-230 radioactivity at this location. Other ores include L-50, L-30, F-32 and R-10. These ores were processed in Tonawanda by Linde Corp. The form of the Afrimet residues is wet clay containing about 30 percent water. The solids in the residue are about 73 percent slimes and the remainder sand. These Afrimet ore residues along with the rest of the K-65, which is presently in Texas, contain almost all of the radium in the USA.

The IWCS on the NFSS site includes an abandoned freshwater treatment plant that was originally constructed in 1943 consisting of several buildings (i.e. Buildings 410, 411, 413 and 414), with interconnecting pipes, canals, feed and discharge lines. The treatment plant was shut down in 1944. This current evaluation focuses on the construction, demolition and modifications of this previously existing water treatment plant as it was re-utilized to store radiological contaminated wastes. It is after understanding what we know, and don’t know, about these structures that one can examine proposals on how to best handle, store, monitor or remove materials of concern.

Building 411 and the other torn down structures are now inside the IWCS. It was designed as a cooling water storage reservoir, 178 feet by 204 feet, with a 4 million gallon capacity. The building is divided into an east and west bay. The building and the recarbonation pit next to it were used in 1985 to store 3,200 cubic yards of radioactive residue sludge (K-65). The L-30 and F-32 residues are also in Building 411.

The original 1943 description and plans for the LOOW mention a reservoir blow off with 30-inch and 12-inch reinforced concrete pipe lines to the drainage ditch that runs north through the entire LOOW property. The RAB has requested that the USACE locate the microfilm containing the rest of these 1943 plans, including the plot plan of this water treatment plant.

Buildings 413 and 414 are referred to as “accelators” (also as cold process lime softeners). These 62-foot diameter cylindrical concrete clarifier tanks have been used since 1944 for storing the L-50 residues. The Recarbonation Pit, an open concrete contact basin, was attached to the southwest corner of Building 411. This pit received the softened water from the accelators and discharged to Building 411. Carbon dioxide generated at the boiler (Building 434) was directed to the recarbonation pit to lower the pH of the alkaline water.

The water treatment facility, in Building 410, which is now demolished, was utilized to perform several stages of chemical water treatment utilizing mixing rooms, chemical storage, filtration beds, and a pump room. It interconnected to other treatment plant structures through pipelines as well as through a network of canals ranging 5 to 10 feet deep. Other process piping includes a 42-inch raw water supply line, discharges to the central drainage ditch, and interconnections to the storage reservoirs, recarbonation pit, valve pit, process/cooling water lines, transfer line to a slurry pond west of the site, roof drains, and foundation drains.

The water plant pipes laid in 1943 were cut and most of the openings plugged with fillcrete or grout in 1980 or 1983. At some locations the pipes were removed, and in other cases plugged. The temporary residue storage buildings, including 411, 413, 414, and the recarbonation pit were surrounded by a clay cutoff wall. These building foundations and walls were buried under layers of contaminated soils from other cleanup actions and then the entire IWCS was covered with a cap.

There have been various attempts to restrict the flow of radioactive contaminated fluids: First, by the original concrete building foundations, with particular attention to the plugs where large pipelines had entered or left the buildings; Secondly, by the disturbed soils around the building complex; and finally by the construction of the clay cutoff wall and cap.

Next month’s RAB column will consider specific findings and areas of interest to the community, which may need further evaluation. More information is available in the RAB Resource Center at the Lewiston Public Library and on the RAB web site: www.loowrab.org.

Boeck, who has retired as professor of Physics and Computer Science, retains the title of research professor at Niagara University. He was one of the members of the original “LOOW Oversight Committee” from 1978 on. His experience with radiological issues includes NU Radiological Safety Committee, American Geophysical Union and expert witness at hearings in Washington, D.C., and the United Kingdom. He can be contacted through the RAB, P.O. Box 181, Youngstown, NY 14174.