Mid-Atlantic Superfund

EPA Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic)

Virginia
Warren County
Front Royal

EPA ID# VAD070358684

10th Congressional District

Last Update: January 2009

Other Names

None

Current Site Status

Under the oversight of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), FMC Corporation (FMC) is performing various cleanup activities at the Avtex Fibers Site. Complementing the EPA's Superfund work is the non-Superfund U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project to abate asbestos and demolish the remaining buildings, which will ready the land for commerical/industrial use. Specific authorizations for the USACE to conduct this work were sponsored by Senator Warner and Congressman Wolf.

In the former plant area east of the railroad tracks, nearly all above ground structures have been decontaminated by FMC and demolished by the USACE. In fall 2007, USACE completed demolishing and excavating the building foundations and stuctures which FMC has decontaminated. FMC is also characterizing and remediating plant area soils, excavating sewers, and disposing waste materials off-site that do not meet cleanup criteria.

In the industrial waste basins area to the west of the railroad tracks, FMC is implementing: the cleanup plans for the closure of 120-acres of disposal basins that contain sulfate sludge and fly ash; cleanup plans approved in January 2008 to close eight viscose basins and an on-site landfill comprising 20 acres; and is finalizing the feasibility study to address the remaining three viscose basins, surface water, and the ground water plume. Throughout the Site, FMC is controlling erosion, collecting and treating contaminated storm water, and maintaining site security. See the Cleanup Progress section below for details about these activities.

EPA completed a five-year review for the Avtex Site in March 2008. The purpose of this review is to ensure that the cleanup continues to protect people and the environment. The five-year review report is located on EPA's web site.

September 2006 marked the opening of the Skyline Soccerplex, the first completed redevelopment of the Site. FMC, EPA, the U.S. Soccer Foundation, and the local Economic Development Authority (EDA) worked together to clean up the 30-acre parcel of land and construct four soccer fields. The EDA is moving forward with the redevelopment efforts for a 160-acre commercial/industrial park east of the railroad tracks and a nature conservancy west of the tracks.

Site Description

The Avtex Fibers Site, located in Warren County, Virginia is a 440-acre former manufacturing plant that produced rayon and other synthetics from 1940 until 1989. Tons of rayon manufacturing wastes and by-products including waste viscose, zinc hydroxide sludge (sulfate), and fly ash and boiler room solids were disposed on-site in 23 impoundments and fill areas encompassing 220 acres. Waste disposal practices at the plant contaminated the groundwater under the Site and in residential wells across the South Fork Shenandoah River (River) from the Site. In 1989, the Virginia State Water Control Board linked polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination in the River to the Avtex Fibers plant. Subsequently, Virginia revoked the plant's permit that allowed treated waste water to be discharged to the River. Shutdown of the Avtex Fibers plant followed this action. Approximately 15,000 people live within a 3-mile radius of the site, some of which depend on ground water as a drinking water supply. During operation of the plant, a significant amount of waste was disposed in impoundments situated within the 100-year flood plain of the River.

Site Responsibility

This site is being addressed through a combination of Federal, State, and potentially responsible parties' actions.

NPL Listing History

This site was proposed to the National Priorities List of the most serious uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous waste site requiring long term remedial action on may October 15, 1984. The site was formally added to the list June 10, 1986, making it eligible for federal cleanup funds.

Threats and Contaminants

The principle contaminants found in groundwater are carbon disulfide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, metals (arsenic and antimony, among others), phenols, and high pH. The principle contaminants that have been found in soil at concentrations exceeding the Site cleanup standards include metals (antimony, arsenic, and lead, among others), several polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons [benzo(a)pyrene, among others] and PCBs. PCBs associated with the plant were detected in the River. Potential threats to ecological receptors exist from metal-bearing sulfate basin sludge and fly ash waste disposed in open basins at the site.

Contaminant descriptions and risk factors are available from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, an arm of the CDC.

Cleanup Progress

Due to the magnitude and the complex nature of contamination at the Avtex Fibers site, it has been the subject of a number of removal and remedial actions. The following is a summary of the major activities performed to date.

EPA began removal activities at the Site in 1989 to address various threats to human health and the environment when the facility was abandoned. EPA continued removal activities as the vacant plant degraded. Actions focused on operating the wastewater treatment system to protect the Shenandoah River from untreated discharges, and removing or treating thousands of gallons of chemicals left in the deteriorating process lines, vessels and laboratories. EPA also removed the 22 carbon disulfide storage impoundments.

The severe deterioration of 17-acres of the manufacturing process area of the facility ultimately lead EPA to determine that cleanup activities would be best accomplished by large-scale mechanical demolition of buildings to remove the remaining chemical residuals. EPA initiated demolition in November 1997. By September 1998, EPA had completed the demolition and consolidated demolished rubble and waste materials into waste piles for later management. In 1999, EPA and FMC entered into a Consent Decree for work to be performed at the Site. As part of this agreement, FMC assumed the responsibility to perform various cleanup activities.

Time-Critical Removal Action (TCRA) Buildings: Under this TCRA, FMC sorted, segregated and characterized the approximately 62,500 cubic yards of demolition debris and waste materials generated during EPA’s demolition activities. Most of these materials were either cleaned for reuse on-site or transported off-site for recycling or disposal. In late May 2004, treatment to stabilize hazardous levels of lead in approximately 5,000 cubic yards of the debris was begun so that it could be safely placed in an on-site lined landfill. Material that could not be treated successfully was sent off-site for disposal in April of 2006. The final activities associated with this action are being implemented concurrently with the non-time-critical removal action (NTCRA) for the remaining buildings and sewers and the Operable Unit 10 Plant Area Soils remedy.

Non-Time-Critical Removal Action (NTCRA) Buildings: To address the remainder of the plant area, EPA signed an Action Memorandum on December 20, 2001 for the decontamination of the remaining buildings and excavation of the remaining sewers. FMC completed decontamination of the remaining above ground buildings in September 2005. Not only did this effort manage the remaining environmental threats associated with the buildings, it also facilitated the demolition of these buildings by USACE and reduced the costs associated with managing the demolition debris. Cleanup of the buildings is approximately 95% complete, with some subgrade foundations and structures remaining to be managed. Excavation of the sewers began in June 2005 and has been conducted in phases as buildings and other obstacles to sewer excavation have been removed. Sewer removal is ongoing and is about 50% completed; with more than 27,000 feet of sewers excavated to date.

NTCRA Basins: EPA signed an Action Memorandum on January 31, 2000 for the closure of approximately 120 acres of industrial waste basins (Sulfate Basins 1 through 5 and the Fly Ash Basins), the Fly Ash Stockpile and the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) basins. The cleanup plan calls for the consolidation of wastes on site and provides for closure of the basins containing wastes using protective caps. The cleanup activities are facilitating the implementation of the Conservancy Park Master Plan that was developed for the future use of this portion of the Site. The conservancy park concept has been integrated into the cleanup activities by revegetating the cleanup areas with appropriate vegetation, construction of a pond and wetland area, and providing the frame work for future park trails. The NTCRA Basins closure activities were started in May 2001. Approximately 75% of the Sulfate Basins, 95% of the Fly Ash Basin and Fly Ash Stockpile, and 30% of the WWTP closures have been completed. The remaining Sulfate Basins and the WWTP are needed for stormwater management and treatment, therefore, for the most part, the remaining work will be undertaken when other areas of the Site have been cleaned up and stormwater collection and treatment is no longer necessary.

Operable Unit 10 (OU-10): In March 2004, EPA selected a remedial action cleanup plan for Viscose Basins 1 through 8, the on-site landfill (New Landfill) and the Plant Area Soils in the Record of Decision (ROD) for Operable Unit 10. The ROD calls for capping the viscose basins and the on-site landfill, treating leachate and monitoring groundwater. The detailed technical plans to implement this portion of the cleanup plan were approved in January 2008 with field work expected to begin this spring. The ROD also calls for the excavation of those Plant Area Soils that contain contaminants at levels that exceed the cleanup standards and provides for appropriate treatment or disposal of the soil. In January 2006 EPA issued an Explanation of Significant Differences to expand the area being addressed as Plant Area Soils to include additional areas of concern that had been identified. The detailed technical plans to implement the cleanup of Plant Area Soils were completed in September 2006. The Plant Area Soils cleanup is underway and is approximately 75% completed.

Operable Unit 7 (OU-7): The final OU-7 Feasibility Study (FS) which evaluates a variety of cleanup alternatives for the Viscose Basins 9 through 11, groundwater contamination and surface water is being finalzied. Integral to evaluating the alternatives of the FS are the results of the treatability testing performed during the Summer of 2006. Following completion of the FS, a proposed plan which provides EPA's preferred cleanup option will be prepared for public comment in 2009.

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