Radiological Remediation, Hazardous Material Handling, Decontamination
The Curtiss-Wright Electro-Mechanical Corporation (CW-EMD) located in Cheswick, Pennsylvania was established in 1952. Since that time, the facility grew to accommodate changing operational needs. One building, in particular, Building 5B, previously housed the Westinghouse Commercial Nuclear Fuels division until approximately 1973. At that time the building was “decontaminated” by an outside firm, surveys were acquired, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) terminated the special nuclear materials (SNM) license. CW-EMD later discovered that the apparent decontamination efforts, subsequent surveys, and regulatory review were inadequate and that residual radioactivity is present. Commercial operations have ceased in a portion of Building 5B, making it available to address the residual contamination present on the building surfaces.
Health & Environmental Risks
Radiological Contamination - Uranium 235 – Known Carcinogen
Our Solution
Decontamination and paint removal on a variety of building surfaces and ancillary equipment utilizing innovative surface decontamination and waste packaging equipment was conducted under CW-EMD’s Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection radioactive material license.
Since geometry and surface configuration varied throughout the areas requiring decontamination, a variety of proprietary, dustless tooling was utilized to successfully remediate surfaces greater than twice background readings.
OSC surveyed surfaces to identify areas with fixed beta activity and lead based paint to prevent comingled waste during remediation maintaining the disposal budget for the project.
OSC utilized proprietary electric powered, zero-emission excavation equipment within the active facility to remediate concrete expansion joints and below grade material exhibiting radiological readings.
Conduct final status survey to document results of the remediation effort inside the limits of the derived concentration guideline level.
