Apollo official says it's safe to park RVs at former nuke site

More than 30 RV campers have been parked at Apollo’s former Babcock & Wilcox nuclear fuel site since early May, prompting some environmental activists to question whether that violates land-use restrictions on the site.

“People fought for a long time, including my mother, to keep radioactive contaminated areas away from the public,” said Diana Rumbaugh of Avonmore, former borough council president.

“When I saw the campers parked on the old B&W site, I was shocked.”

The site on Warren Avenue, the borough’s largest industrial parcel, has been vacant since 1997 after a massive environmental cleanup.

Part of the 22-acre parcel was home to the former Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) and its successors, the Atlantic Richfield Co. and Babcock & Wilcox. NUMEC produced nuclear fuels for U.S. Navy reactors. The site has a history of radiological contamination and litigation.

The borough owns the land but is bound by covenants for land use imposed by B&W with approvals from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

When contacted this week, DEP could not immediately respond to questions about the covenants and how they apply to parking on the site, saying it had to research the matter.

Claiming radioactive emissions from the former nuclear processing plant caused cancers and property damage, several hundred area residents sued B&W and Atlantic Richfield, settling for more than $80 million in federal court more than a decade ago.

A borough official said Tuesday the former B&W site is safe for parking the RV campers.

Meyer’s Shreck RV of Washington Township leased the property from Apollo for $2,000 for about six weeks, starting in early May, according to Mark Tarle, vice president of council. The company wanted to store and stage campers destined for display at the Pittsburgh RV show from May 15-23 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh, he said.

“This was a temporary thing,” Tarle said of the lease agreements, adding most of the RVs might be removed from the property this week. “This might be the first time in many years that we received money from that property.”

Calls to Meyer’s Shreck RV were not immediately returned.

The area occupied by the campers, within two fenced-off areas, has been cleared to commercial standards, Tarle said.

“As far as borough knowledge goes at this particular time, the site has been cleared to a standard where you can safely park a vehicle,” Tarle said, adding that grass in the parking areas is a special grass that “leached radiation out of the property.”

Area residents aren’t so sure about what is safe and what is not safe.

“I wonder if there are areas there that are still highly contaminated,” Rumbaugh said. “What areas will always have use restrictions?”

Patty Ameno, an Apollo native who lives in Hyde Park, said she believes that disturbing soil on the site violates the covenants. Ameno spearheaded the civil actions related to the site that resulted in the multi-million dollar settlement.

“Any disturbed soil might have contamination. The last thing the people of the Valley want is to be exposed to nuclear material again,” Ameno said.

She said she is not opposed to redeveloping the site, but the covenants must be followed. Ameno said she would like to help the borough secure grants to help pay for redevelopment of the site.

The borough engineer is investigating possible redevelopment scenarios for the site, Tarle said.