SWMU 24 - Hazardous Waste Storage Facility RCRA Site

Background
The Hazardous Waste Storage Facility (HWSF) was located south of the Public Works Road and east of Building T-1443. The site was operated as a container storage area from 1980 to 1994. The Navy petitioned closure under RCRA, as required under 40 CFR Part 265. The entire perimeter of the HWSF is fenced, with access through a locked gate at the western end of the compound. The storage capacity was cited in the permit submittals as 20,000 gallons of pre-containerized waste. The only structure at the HWSF is Building 30006, which was used to store, categorize, sort and label wastes. The building is located at the eastern end of the paved yard.

The dimensions of the HWSF are approximately 300 by 55 feet. The entire surface area of the compound, with the exception of Building 30006, is covered by asphalt pavement approximately 4 inches thick. Outside the paved, fenced area at the western end are two asphalt pads. The pad on the southwestern corner was used to store unknown materials awaiting analytical results for classification. The emergency response equipment trailer occupied the pad on the northwestern side. Building 30006 has a curbed concrete pad foundation with dimensions of 25 by 40 feet. An internal concrete berm was to separate the PCB storage area from other storage areas. This area is identified as SWMU 24.

The institutional controls intent is to maintain commercial and industrial land use in accordance with the RCRA Closure Plan for the site.

Identified Contaminants
Low levels of tetrachloroethene (PCE) were found in the upper 2 feet of soils but were found not to have migrated laterally from potential source areas at the HWSF. Soil borings confirmed that PCE has not migrated vertically or horizontally off site.

RCRA Institutional Controls

RCRA Engineering Controls

Engineering controls encompass a variety of engineered remedies to contain or reduce contamination, or physical barriers intended to limit access to property. Engineering controls, as they relate to Adak Island, include fences, signs, caps or barriers, and treatment systems including monitoring wells. The engineering controls identified in the OU A ROD, petroleum cleanup sites, and those that will apply as interim measures to OU B are described below.

Under the OU A ROD signed in 2000, fishing advisory signs were posted for subsistence fishers because of low levels of PCBs detected in bottom fish (rock sole) and shellfish (blue mussels) of Sweeper Cove and Kuluk Bay. The OU A ROD Amendment removes the requirement for fish advisory signs. Instead, the Navy will provide an information pamphlet to the residents of the City of Adak, because they are the most likely people to eat locally caught fish and shellfish as part of a subsistence diet. Fish information pamphlets will be updated as new information is collected and trends are analyzed. Copies of the updated pamphlets will be put in residence mail boxes, and copies will be placed at the City of Adak and U.S. Fish and Wildlife offices. The consumption of rock sole or blue mussels by recreational fishers poses no unacceptable health risks.

Ordnance hazard signs are in place on fencing around the part of the perimeter of the access restricted area adjacent to Lake Andrew. As of the end of the 2002 field season, remediation has been completed on all areas outside the access-restricted area adjacent to Lake Andrew. For this reason, with the exception of the signs at the perimeter of the Lake Andrew area, these signs are no longer required and were removed in 2003. Fences and gates at the access-restricted areas adjacent to Lake Andrew will be retained and maintained until the OU B-2 ROD is executed. Thereafter, ICs and ECs will be subject to the terms of the OU B-2 ROD.