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NPL Site Narrative for Ordnance Products, Inc.
ORDNANCE PRODUCTS, INC.
Cecil County, Maryland
Federal Register Notice: September 25, 1997Conditions at Proposal (May 1993): The Ordnance Products, Inc. (OPI), site is located 2 miles northeast of the Town of North East in Cecil County, Maryland. The 94.6-acre property, currently occupied by an industrial park and warehousing facility known as Mechanics Valley Trade Center (MVTC), is located in a rural area. OPI purchased the property in 1960 and began operating an ordnance manufacturing facility. During the Vietnam conflict, OPI manufactured grenade fuses, detonation devices, smoke grenades, and other types of ordnance. Some off-specification ordnance was burned in open pits and ordnance was buried onsite. The waste water resulting from manufacturing operations was disposed of into five unlined surface impoundments. Kraus Design, Inc. (KDI) became a holding company for OPI in 1969. OPI ceased manufacturing ordnance in 1972 and closed the facility. In 1986, the site was purchased by MVTC, which planned to develop the site as an industrial park. Since that time MVTC, and the site were sold but retained the MVTC corporate entity. MVTC is currently renting buildings in a secure portion of the site to several tenants.
In 1987, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) discovered the site while investigating a nearby property. An extensive MDE sampling program detected elevated levels of metals such as selenium and barium in onsite soils, ground water, and surface water. MDE also detected elevated concentrations of trichloroethene; 1,2-dichloroethene; tetrachloroethene; vinyl chloride; and xylene in two onsite wells and four offsite residential drinking water wells. One onsite well is currently connected to an air stripping tower and is still used as a water source.
On June 27, 1988, EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order under CERCLA Section 106(a) requiring KDI to investigate the extent of soil contamination and the amount of buried ordnance onsite. The order requires KDI to (1) remove all contaminated soils and buried ordnance from the site, (2) determine the extent the contaminated ground water plume has migrated both on- and off-site, and (3) install a water treatment system on all residential wells where concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have exceeded EPA's Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). In response, KDI has (1) installed 10 offsite ground water monitoring wells to facilitate the offsite hydrogeological study, (2) installed activated carbon filtration units on four residential drinking water wells, and is maintaining the units and sampling the wells every 6 weeks, and (3) removed some drums and ordnance that had been buried onsite.
KDI's investigation identified the following hazardous waste sources, some of which KDI has already removed under the order: drums scattered over the site, five surface impoundments reportedly used for disposal of plating wastes and other wastes, three subsurface disposal areas containing discarded ordnance, three burn areas also containing ordnance, and other areas of contaminated soil. KDI is continuing to evaluate these sources and also plans to sample water and sediments of Little Northeast Creek, which is adjacent to the site.
On December 31, 1988, EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order to MVTC requiring MVTC to maintain site security and to operate and maintain the onsite air stripper.
KDI is continuing to remove all contaminated materials from the site and the offsite hydrogeological investigation.
Status (September 1997): KDI conducted additional investigations of the sources, ground water, and surface water. KDI installed additional monitoring wells and also designed and installed a ground water treatment and recovery system. Due to financial difficulties, KDI has now been liquidated and is unable to perform any additional investigation or remediation at the site. EPA's Removal Program anticipates beginning operation of the ground water treatment and recovery system shortly.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.