EPA RCRA ID: DED003930807
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the public law that creates the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste. Corrective action is a requirement under RCRA that facilities that treat, store or dispose of hazardous wastes, or did so in the past, investigate and clean up hazardous releases into soil, groundwater, surface water and air. For more information, and for more information on RCRA-specific terms used on this page, please visit EPA’s umbrella RCRA web page or EPA’s RCRA Corrective Action page.
On this page:
- Cleanup Activities
- Facility Description
- Institutional/Engineering Controls
- Enforcement and Compliance
- Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
- Contacts for this Facility
Cleanup Activities
In September 1993, EPA issued a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) administrative order directing the company to implement the remedy that was selected by EPA's Regional Administrator for this site in September 1991 (No Further Action with Monitoring). EPA and the facility worked jointly to complete the requirements of the order, which included:
- Conduct a five-year groundwater monitoring program including sampling, analysis of samples, and measurement of groundwater elevations in fourteen monitoring wells at the site on a quarterly and semi-annual basis.
- Prepare and submit reports describing this groundwater sampling work for EPA's review.
- Impose deed restrictions on the DuPont facility property to prevent the placement of wells that could be used for domestic purposes, and any use of the property that may permit dermal contact with subsurface soils and groundwater. DuPont is also required to notify EPA in advance and restrict access during any excavation work that may be completed in the site area.
The facility completed the five-year groundwater monitoring program that was required as the selected remedy for this site in 1999, and submitted a summary report to EPA. The groundwater data generated during this program consistently indicated that the concentrations of the hazardous constituents of concern in groundwater were significantly below the remediation standards or goals established by EPA for the site, and that concentrations significantly decreased over the duration of the monitoring program. EPA issued its approval of the 5-Year Assessment Report to DuPont on August 30, 2000, and notified the facility that they had successfully completed the RCRA Corrective Action process for the site.
On July 21, 2021, the EPA conducted a Long Term Stewardship assessment to assess whether the remedy was implemented and protective of human health and the environment. EPA determined that the remedy institutional and engineering controls have been fully implemented and no control deficiencies were identified.
Cleanup Actions or environmental indicators characterizing the entire facility are shown below. This listing, and all the data on this page, come from EPA’s RCRAInfo and are refreshed nightly to this page. For this table, a blank in the Status column could mean the action either has not occurred or has not been reported in RCRAInfo.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to the Entire Facility
| Action | Status | Date of Action |
|---|---|---|
| Human Exposure Under Control Human Exposure Under Control(CA725) | ||
| Groundwater Migration Under ControlGroundwater Migration Under Control (CA750) | ||
| Remedy DecisionRemedy Decision (CA400) | ||
| Remedy ConstructionRemedy Construction (CA550) | ||
| Ready for Anticipated Use Ready for Anticipated Use (CA800) | ||
| Performance Standards AttainedPerformance Standards Attained (CA900) | ||
| Corrective Action Process TerminatedCorrective Action Process Terminated (CA999) |
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Cleanup Activities Pertaining to a Portion of the Facility
| Action | Area Name | Date of Action |
|---|
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Facility Description
Link to a larger, interactive view of the map.
The Experimental Station is the corporate-wide central research and development facility for DuPont, and has been actively used as a research facility for approximately 90 years. Prior to this, the area along the Brandywine Creek was used for gunpowder manufacturing by DuPont. The site consists of mostly administrative office buildings, laboratories, and parking areas. DuPont also operates a hazardous waste incinerator that is equipped with air pollution control devices, and several hazardous waste storage pads that are permitted by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).
The DuPont Experimental Station Site is located on Route 141 in Wilmington, Delaware, and its southern border is immediately adjacent to the Brandywine Creek. The site is approximately four miles northwest of the City of Wilmington,
The main contaminants in the soil and groundwater are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and volatile organics such as vinyl chloride and trichloroethene (TCE).
Institutional and Engineering Controls at this Facility
On January 9, 1995, DuPont filed a Declaration of Covenants with the New Castle County Recorder of Deeds covering 6.08 acres of the Experimental Station Site that were subject to RCRA Corrective Action work. This Declaration of Covenants restricts the use of this portion of the Experimental Station site by preventing the placement of wells that could be used for domestic purposes, and any use of the property that may permit dermal contact with subsurface soils and groundwater. DuPont is also required to notify EPA in advance and restrict access during any excavation work that may be completed in the six acre area of the Experimental Station site.
Institutional and Engineering Controls help ensure human exposure and groundwater migration are under control at a cleanup facility. Where control types have been reported by states and EPA in EPA’s RCRAInfo, they are shown below. Not all control types are needed at all facilities, and some facilities do not require any controls. Where there are blanks, the control types may not be needed, may not be in place, or may not be reported in RCRAInfo.
Are Controls in Place at this Facility?
|
Control(s) Type |
Control(s) in Place? |
Areas Subject to Control(s) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
Institutional ControlsNon-engineering controls used to restrict land use or land access in order to protect people and the environment from exposure to hazardous substances remaining in the site/or facility. (CA 772) |
Informational DevicesInformational Devices (ID) |
||
|
Governmental Controls (GC) |
|||
|
Enforcement and Permit Tools (EP) |
|||
| Proprietary ControlsProprietary Controls (PR) | |||
|
Engineering ControlsEngineering measures designed to minimize the potential for human exposure to contamination by either limiting direct contact with contaminated areas or controlling migration of contaminants. (CA 770) |
Groundwater ControlGroundwater Control (GW) |
||
|
Non-Groundwater |
|||
For definitions of the terms used, hover over or click on the term.
Enforcement and Compliance at this Facility
EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) provides detailed historical information about enforcement and compliance activities at each RCRA Corrective Action Site in their Enforcement and Compliance Historical Online (ECHO) system.
RCRA Enforcement and Compliance Reports from ECHO
Related Information and Publicly Available Electronic Records
For more information about this facility, see these other EPA links:
- RCRA information in EPA’s Envirofacts database
- Information about this facility submitted to EPA under different environmental programs as reported in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Alternative Names for this facility as reported by EPA programs in EPA’s Facility Registry Services
- Cleanups in My Community provides an interactive map to see EPA cleanups in context with additional data, and lists for downloading data
- Search RCRA Corrective Action Sites provides a search feature for Corrective Action Sites
Documents, Photos and Graphics
Contacts for this Facility
EPA Region implements and enforces the RCRA Corrective Action program for and federally recognized tribes.
For further information on this corrective action site, use the Contact Information for Corrective Action Hazardous Waste Clean Ups listings that are accessible through Corrective Action Programs around the Nation.