Corps reviewing clean-up of Luckey site

By: 
Larry Limpf

The Army Corps of Engineers is conducting a five-year review of the remedial action undertaken at the former Brush Beryllium site near the Village of Luckey to remove contaminated soil and building materials.
Under the selected remedy, soil containing lead, beryllium, radium-226, thorium-230, uranium-234 and uranium-238 is being excavated and disposed off-site. Also, groundwater at the site containing uranium, lead and beryllium is being monitored.
Once the contaminated soils are removed from the site, the concentration of the contaminants in the groundwater will decrease naturally, the Corps plan states.
Groundwater wells are being monitored semi-annually while the site is being remediated and will continue to be monitored for three years when the clean-up is complete. After the three years, the wells will be sampled annually until the results show that safe drinking water standards have been met.
Arleen Kreusch, a spokesperson for the Corps Buffalo District, said land-use controls will be in place to ensure there are no changes in groundwater use.
She said the five-year review process provides an opportunity to evaluate the expected results and whether they will protect human health and the environment.
Details of the review are available at the Corps website. A report of the review is scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2023.
The review also includes a community involvement component. Persons wanting to be interviewed should contact the Corps at fusrap@usace.army.mil.
In September, the Corps announced the clean-up project was about 50 percent complete and it had removed and disposed of 118,400 tons of contaminated soil from the site, deconstructed seven buildings and disposed of 16,183 tons of building debris at the U.S. Ecology landfill site in Belleville, Mich.
In August, the Corps awarded an $82 million contract to complete the soil clean-up.
The Atomic Energy Commission in 1959 contracted with the Brush Beryllium Co. to close the facility. The closure process included constructing a two-acre, dike-enclosed landfill on the northeast corner of the property. Sludge material from three lagoons adjacent to a production building was moved to the landfill, capped and graded and seeded.

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