EPA completed deletion activities at seven sites from Superfund NPL list in 2017, including the Shpack Landfill Superfund site in Massachusetts BOSTON – Due to the hard work of staff to implement Administrator Pruitt’s initiatives to make strides in cleaning up the nation’s most contaminated toxic land sites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing significant improvement in 2017 – through the deletion of all or parts of seven Superfund sites from the National Priorities List (NPL).
But in 2017, under the leadership of Administrator Pruitt, EPA has deleted three entire sites and portions of four others.
These deletions come on the heels of Administrator Pruitt’s list of 21 sites that have been targeted for immediate and intense attention – a direct response to the Superfund Task Force Recommendations issued this summer.
is one of the Superfund sites that has been deleted.
The Shpack Landfill operated as a private landfill from 1946 to 1965.
It is not known exactly when these radioactive materials were deposited, but an NRC investigation determined that the former M&C Nuclear, Inc., of Attleboro (which merged with Texas Instruments, Inc., in 1959) had used the landfill for the disposal of trash and other materials, including zirconium ashes, associated with nuclear fuel operations at the facility from 1957 to 1965.
Cleanup of the site was implemented in two parts, first with the USACE completing the FUSRAP remedial action to address the radiological contamination in 2011, followed by the CERCLA or Superfund remedial action to address non-radiological contamination.
The Superfund cleanup was completed in 2013.
Following standard procedure for completed cleanup work under Superfund, EPA will continue to conduct reviews of the Site every five years, starting in 2018, to ensure that human health and the environment remain protected.
EPA may initiate further action to ensure continued protectiveness at a deleted site if new information becomes available that indicates it is appropriate.