Region 5 Air and Radiation Division

General discription

The Mound Plant is located on a 306-acre site in southern Montgomery County in southwestern Ohio. The site is mainly within the southern city limits of Miamisburg and is about 10 miles south-southwest of the Dayton city limits.

The Mound Plant has been operated for the Department of Energy by EG&G Mound Applied Technologies since October 1988. Previously, the site was operated by Monsanto Research, Inc. The main mission of the Mound Plant was to manufacture both non-nuclear and tritium-containing components for nuclear weapons which were assembled elsewhere. The Mound Plant was in continuous use since 1948.

Production activities were conducted in more than 100 buildings situated on two hills (the "Main Hill" and the "SM/PP Hill") and in the valley separating the two hills. The northern part of the Mound site is a heavily developed area with a high density of buildings, roads, and parking lots. The southern part of the site was purchased in 1983 and has not been developed.

Mound was involved in a number of weapon and non-weapon programs in fulfilling its mission. A wide variety of activities were, or are still, performed for the following major programs:

1. Weapons Program - Activities associated with the weapons program include research, development, and production of : detonators; timers, transducers and switches; firesets; actuators; and nuclear components. Surveillance is also performed on various components of weapons taken from stockpile. In addition, 36 products on 9 different types of ordnance are procured for other sites involved in the program.

2. Stable Isotope Program - Development of isotope separation methods for biomedical applications; molecular science research; isotope separation research and development; stable isotopes inventory program and worldwide sales; and isotope separation by chemical exchange are the major efforts conducted within the stable isotope program.

3. Safeguards Program - The safeguards programs at the Mound Plant include research and development for nuclear measurement instruments and methodology; and provide site assistance for nuclear material accountability, and calorimeter reimbursable materials.

4. Heat Source Program - Activities in the heat source program include hardware fabrication; radioactive module assembly; radioisotopic thermoelectric generator (RTG) assembly; and testing of heat sources for the production of electricity in space, in the ocean, and on land. Also associated with this program are the receipt and monitoring of space flight RTGs after launches are completed.

5. Tritium Recovery Program - The Mound Plant receives scrap materials from other USDOE sites and recovers and purifies the tritium for future use.

As a result of historic disposal practices and contaminant releases to the environment, the Mound Plant was placed on the National Priorities List in November 1989. In August 1990, the USEPA and USDOE entered into a FFCA for remediation under CERCLA; the USDOE was deemed the lead agency.