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EPA Selects $33.8 Million Superfund Cleanup Action For Thorium-Contaminated Properties in Camden and Gloucester City, New Jersey

Release Date: 08/13/1999
Contact Information: Rich Cahill (212) 627-3666 / [email protected]

(#99131) -- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox today joined U.S. Representative Rob Andrews, Gloucester City Mayor Robert Gorman, Camden and state officials, as well as community leaders at the former General Gas Mantle Corporation building, which is part of a recently listed federal Superfund site on South Fourth Street in Camden, New Jersey. The visit was to announce that EPA will remove and ship low-level radioactive soil and waste material to approved, out-of-state disposal facilities to permanently solve a federal Superfund problem shared by the City of Camden and Gloucester City at two old industrial sites, and residential and commercial properties that contain low-levels of thorium. The project will cost nearly $34 million in Superfund Trust money and take three to five years to accomplish, the agency announced today. EPA and state studies show the areas of contamination do not pose an immediate threat to public health.

"The public support for this cleanup is overwhelming and we are grateful for the critical assistance that the local officials and agencies have provided," EPA Regional Administrator Jeanne M. Fox observed. "Our solution removes any threat the contamination poses to the residents of Camden and Gloucester City, and sets the stage for the redevelopment of the inactive industrial site in Camden and reuse of the vacant land in Gloucester City."

EPA, which calls the group of contaminated areas the "Welsbach/General Gas Mantle Contamination Superfund site" (WGGM), placed it on the National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites in 1996 and took over the cleanup from the state. In the early 1990s, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) took actions to reduce any potential immediate health threats from the radioactive material, including covering elevated radiation areas with asphalt, crushed stone and/or concrete. As a precaution, last December the agency completed a Superfund fast-track cleanup of low-level thorium-contaminated soil in a Gloucester City public park.

The problem was caused by the disposal practices of a "turn-of-the-century" gas lamp manufacturing company that shut down operations in the early 1940s, when America's conversion from gas to electric light became virtually universal. Thorium is a naturally occurring radioactive metal used in manufacturing gas mantles to brighten the light from gas lamps. The Welsbach Company extracted thorium from ore in a process that removed only a small percentage of thorium from the ore, leaving behind a significant amount of thorium waste material. The waste materials may have been used as fill at the Welsbach facility and at other nearby residential and commercial areas.

After the NJDEP discovered the site in 1980, EPA assisted the state by conducting an aerial survey in 1981 that identified excess gamma radiation in Camden and Gloucester City. NJDEP later did preliminary radiation surveys of the area and identified elevated levels of radioactive contamination in the former gas mantle facilities and at nearby residential and commercial properties. This information led to the state's interim action in the early 1990s to reduce any immediate threats.

Radioactive elements, such as thorium, are unstable and can only become stable by releasing energy. Thorium releases energy in the form of alpha particles, beta particles, or gamma rays in a process called radioactive decay. The radioactive decay forms gamma radiation and radon gas, which is odorless, colorless, tasteless and invisible and can be harmful if people are exposed to it over many years. Gamma radiation from wastes at the site may pose health problems to people who come in contact with the wastes over long periods of time.

EPA's cleanup action will address the following areas:
Area 1: The former General Gas Mantle Corporation (GGM) located on South Fourth Street, between Jefferson Street and Chelton Avenue, in the southwest section of Camden. The former GGM plant building is presently inactive and boarded up.
Area 2: The former Welsbach Company in Gloucester City between King Street and the Delaware River. The facility is now owned by Holt Hauling and Warehousing System, Inc. and is used as a shipping and cargo transfer facility. The facility is fenced and monitored 24 hours a day.
Area 3: Includes a number of residential properties and several apparent fill areas on open land in Gloucester City.
Area 4: Includes several residential properties in Camden.
Area 5: Includes a residential area in Gloucester City.
Area 6: Includes vacant lots in a residential area in Gloucester City.

FUTURE ACTIONS
EPA is overseeing the study of thorium contamination at the Armstrong Building in Gloucester City by the Holt Hauling and Warehousing, Inc. to determine the best means to address it. In the next phase of the Superfund cleanup, EPA will characterize the extent of potential contamination of local groundwater and wetlands associated with the site, as well as evaluate the best cleanup options, if necessary.

For more information contact:
Richard Cahill, Press Office
EPA Region 2
290 Broadway
NY, NY 10007-1866
Voice: 212-637-3666 FAX: 212-637-5046 E-Mail:[email protected]