Chemtronics, Inc.

• Site Profile
• Additional Site Documents including Five Year Reviews, Records of Decisions (ROD) and Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD).
• For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Site Background:

The Chemtronics site is located in Swannanoa, Buncombe County, North Carolina, contamination effecting approximately 20 acres of a 1,027 acre parcel. The property was first developed as an industrial site in 1952 and has had several owners/operators. The site is owned by Chemtronics, Inc.; however, no manufacturing activities are occurring on site. The primary products manufactured on-site were explosives, incapacitating agents, and chemical intermediates. The waste streams associated with manufacturing activities included various chlorinated and non-chlorinated solvents and acidic solutions. EPA has identified three (3) viable potentially responsible parties (PRPs) for this Site. They are Chemtronics, Inc., Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, and CNA Holdings, Inc.

There are six discrete disposal areas (DA) on-site; they are DA-6, DA-7/8, DA-9, DA-10/11, DA-23, and the Acid Pit Area. The Acid Pit Area embodies sixteen individual disposal areas. The site is subdivided geographically into the Front Valley and the Back Valley. The Remedial Investigation confirmed the presence of contaminants in the soil, groundwater, and surface water/sediment. Contaminants contained in these disposal areas include volatile organic compounds (1,2-dichloroethane, trans-1,2-dichloroethene, trichloroethene, and tetrachloroethene), semi-volatile organic compounds (benzophenone, benzylic acid, and explosives), and metals (chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc). Contaminants detected in the groundwater include benzene, chloroform, 1,2-dichloroethane, trans-1,2-dichloroethene, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, benzophenone, benzylic acid, picric acid, explosives, chromium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc. To date no contamination in the groundwater or surface water/sediment has migrated from the site.

Cleanup Progress: Construction Completed
The 1988 ROD was amended on April 26, 1989. Under a March 1989, Unilateral Administrative Order issued to all three PRPs, the remedial design (RD) and remedial action (RA) were performed. Final design specifications were completed in July 1991 and construction of the RA was completed in January 1993. The RA included capping all wastes in place and installing groundwater extraction and treatment systems down gradient of the disposal areas in both valleys. As of November 2008, over 15.6 and 63.6 million gallons have been removed from the Front and Back Valley aquifers, respectively. Repair of periodic erosion of the caps is corrected during regular maintenance activities. In June 1997, the PRPs initiated corrective actions to improve the operation of both the extraction systems and treatment systems in both valleys. These corrections have significantly reduced the down time both of these systems have experienced in the past. Groundwater extraction and treatment continues.
The US Corps of Army Engineers prepared the first Five-Year Review Report in August 2002. EPA, with the assistance of the PRPs, generated the second Five-Year Review Report, dated September 27, 2007. The conclusions reached in this report is the areas of soil contamination at the Site where known waste disposal activity occurred have been capped which limits soil exposure and thus, these areas of soil contamination are protective of human health and the environment in the short-term; however, in order for the remedy to be protective in the long-term, the follow-up actions are needed: institutional controls (perpetual land use restrictions) need to be put in place.

The remedy for groundwater at the Site is protective in the short-term because there is no exposure to contaminated groundwater; however, to be protective in the long-term, follow-up actions need to be taken: institutional controls (perpetual land use restrictions) need to be placed on the property to prevent groundwater use; and improvements to the groundwater monitoring system are needed to ensure complete capture of contaminant plumes.

In a March 9, 2007 correspondence, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources requested that EPA consolidate oversight of all Site environmental remediation activities under EPA’s Superfund authority, and relinquished its Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) oversight responsibilities for the Site to EPA’s Superfund program. Consequently, the PRPs will be revising the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study documents to incorporate the RCRA related areas on the Chemtronics facility. This additional work will be accomplished under an Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) which was signed by the PRPs and EPA in October 2008.  The PRPs recently submitted the draft  Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) Work Plan based on the AOC and accompanying Statement of Work (SOW). Field work should begin in the summer of 2009.