Denver Radium

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Denver Radium
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• Location
• In the mountain of Colorado consist of
  numerous sites in
• Denver area which contaminate with radioactive
  soils and
• Debris. There are about 65 properties organized
  into 11 Operable
• Units (OUs).
• History
• Early 1990 Denver was the site of radium
  processing activities.
• Plant close, leaving behind the land
  contaminated
• with radioactive soil and
  debris.
• 1940 Brick and tile facility operated
  on the property and
• leave the site vacant after
  closing
• EPA discovered the situation
• 1983 Operated the Superfund site in
  September 1983

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Problem and environmental concerns - Soils
were contaminated with the radioactive elements
radium, thorium, and uranium. The radioactive
decay of these elements produces radon gas and
radon daughters. - The critical pathway is
the potential for buildup of radon gas and radon
daughters in structures built over contaminated
deposits. Chronic exposure to radon has been
shown to cause lung cancer.  In addition, direct
contact with the contaminated soils or debris may
pose a risk. 
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EPA Hazard Ranking System scores for DENVER
RADIUM SITE
Less Hazard National Average More Hazard
0         50         100
                                                                                                                       

Contaminants Detected Contaminants Detected Contaminants Detected Contaminants Detected Contaminants Detected Contaminants Detected
  GroundWater SurfaceWater Air Soil Other
RADIUM X X X    
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Partners - U.S. EPA - State of Colorado - The
Home Depot, Inc Buying site to build a new
store

• Solution Remediation
• excavate radioactive soils and materials
• Contaminates buildings and materials removed
• Metal contaminated soil covered with
  protective
• cap

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Site Remediation -The remedial action for most
of the Operable Units (OUs) consisted of
excavation of contaminated materials and
disposal at a licensed facility in western Utah.
Cleanup activities have been completed at all
operable units except Operable Unit 8. 
-Remediation at Operable Unit 8, Shattuck
Chemical Company, involved excavating and
treating the contaminated soils with cement and
fly ash and placing the solidified and
stabilized soils back on site, creating a
structure which was capped. -EPA concluded that
the long-term protectiveness of the remedy could
not be guaranteed , and therefore decided to
remove the stabilized waste to a licensed
disposal or recycling facility.
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• OU8 Shattuck Chemical
• -EPA selected off-site removal which offers
  benefits including
• Long-term protection of human health and the
  environment.
• Removal of potential source material for future
  ground-water contamination.
• Disposal of material in a permitted facility.
• Unrestricted future land use.
• -Demolition and off-site disposal of the existing
  monolith raised concerns about the potential for
• dust and soil blowing off the monolith gt Area
  being worked is covered with a structure.
• -The structure selected is a moveable "mining"
  structure made of sheet metal and tensioned
• fabric links gt allows it to compress and be
  moved more easily across the site.
• -A metal conveyor structure will move the mined
  monolith materials from the moveable mining
• structure to a metal load out structure where
  rail cars will be filled. The rail cars will use
  a newly
• constructed Shattuck site rail siding to move
  from the site and connect with the main rail line
  for
• off-site transportation.
• -After the contaminated soils and materials are
  removed, the site will be verified to be clean
  and

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Site Map
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Inside Mobile Mining Structure
Loaded Rail Cars
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• Environmental and Social benefits
• Protect public health
• Prevented spread of radio activity
• Improve quality of the area
• - Attracted consumers to other business in area

• Economics benefits
• In Short-term
• Employment rate increased
• More total annual income from clean-up jobs
  and redevelopment
• jobs
• In Long-term
• 113 Permanent jobs with The Home depot
• More total annual income from total annual
  spending
• - Properties value increased