Title: Seymour, Connecticut, Site

The Environmental Emergency Response Unit (EERU) is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) hazardous-material-spill response and control organization for situations where the use of complex cleanup equipment and techniques are required. EERU is engaged in the shakedown and field demonstration of protypical equipment and techniques developed under the direction and sponsorship of EPA's Hazardous Waste Engineering Research Laboratory (HWERL). In March 1983, EERU was requested by the EPA Region V On-Scene-Coordinator to provide an on-site water-treatment system at the Seymour Recycling Site, Seymour, Indiana, the largest uncontrolled waste site in the state. The system was to be on-site and operationalmore » by April 1983. A few of the limiting factors in choosing a system were speed of mobilization, plus short-term and intermittent use.« less

The Seymour Recycling Corporation (SRC) site, encompassing a fourteen-acre area, is approximately two miles southwest of Seymour, Indiana. SRC and its corporate predecessor, Seymour Manufacturing Company, processed, stored, and incinerated chemical wastes at the site from about 1970 to early 1980. The facility was closed when SRC failed to comply with a 1978 agreement with the State of Indiana to cease receiving wastes and to institute better waste-management practices. In 1980, several thousand drums were removed from the site by two potentially responsible parties (PRPs). In 1981, the U.S. EPA removed chemicals from tanks at the site and disposed ofmore » those wastes offsite. A 1982 Consent Decree with potential PRPs resulted in the removal, between December 1982 and January 1984, of approximately 50,000 drums, 100 storage tanks and the first foot of contaminated soil from about 75 percent of the site's surface. A Record of Decision, signed in September 1986, evaluated the stabilization of the ground water plume emanating from the site and selected the implementation of a plume stabilization system to extract, treat and discharge ground water to a waste water treatment plant.« less

Leaking barrels of chemicals reacted and erupted into spontaneous fires and explosions at the Seymour Recycling Corporation in the 1970s. The poorly managed and overburdened hazardous waste storage and incineration facility polluted soil and ground water with solvents, acids, and heavy metals. With help from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) and the City of Seymour, cooperative efforts lead to an effective remediation of the site including: an immediate removal of drums, tanks and soil; a comprehensive ground water treatment system and extension of the municipal water supply to affected residents; and use of two innovative technologies, bioremediation andmore » soil vapor extraction.« less

At the request of the USDOE, a team from ORNL conducted an independent radiological verification survey at the former Bridgeport Brass Company Facility, Seymour, Connecticut, from September 1992 to March 1993. Purpose of the survey was to determine whether residual levels of radioactivity inside the Ruffert Building and selected adjacent areas were rmediated to levels below DOE guidelines for FUSRAP sites. The property was contaminated with radioactive residues of {sup 238}U from uranium processing experiments conducted by Reactive Metals, Inc., from 1962 to 1964 for the Atomic Energy Commission. A previous radiological survey did not characterize the entire floor spacemore » because equipment which could not be moved at the time made it inaccessible for radiological surveys. During the remediation process, additional areas of elevated radioactivity were discovered under stationary equipment, which required additional remediation and further verification. Results of the independent radiological verification survey confirm that, with the exception of the drain system inside the building, residual uranium contamination has been remediated to levels below DOE guidelines for unrestricted release of property at FUSRAP sites inside and outside the Ruffert Building. However, certain sections of the drain system retain uranium contamination above DOE surface guideline levels. These sections of pipe are addressed in separate, referenced documentation.« less

At the request of the US Department of Energy (DOE), a team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory conducted a radiological survey of the former Bridgeport Brass Company facility, Seymour, Connecticut. The survey was performed in May 1992. The purpose of the survey was to determine if the facility had become contaminated with residuals containing radioactive materials during the work performed in the Ruffert building under government contract in the 1960s. The survey included a gamma scanning over a circumscribed area around the building, and gamma and beta-gamma scanning over all indoor surfaces as well as the collection of soil andmore » other samples for radionuclide analyses. Results of the survey demonstrated radionuclide concentrations in indoor and outdoor samples, and radiation measurements over floor and wall surfaces, in excess of the DOE Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program guidelines. Elevated uranium concentrations outdoors were limited to several small, isolated spots. Radiation measurements exceeded guidelines indoors over numerous spots and areas inside the building, mainly in Rooms 1--6 that had been used in the early government work.« less