CONCORD — Concord is among 33 Massachusetts communities to have property designated as a Superfund site, meaning it’s on the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List of contaminated areas that pose the greatest risk to people and the environment, and is designated for federal cleanup.
The 46 acres of land at 2229 Main St. (Route 62), formerly owned by Starmet Corp. for Nuclear Metals Inc., a specialty metal research and development facility, has been on the Superfund site list since 2001. The land sits near both the Acton and Maynard lines.
Two upcoming meetings — 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 25 and 7 p.m. on Nov. 9 — have been scheduled to inform the public bout remediation efforts that are taking place and possible future uses of the property. Both meetings are at the Concord Town House, 22 Monument Square, on the second floor. Remote access will be posted on the town calendar. These are the first public meetings addressing the Superfund site since 2019.
History of Concord’s Superfund site
According to Len Rappoli, chair of the 2229 Main Street Oversite Committee, Nuclear Metals manufactured depleted uranium penetrators for the Department of Defense. From 1958 to 1985, depleted uranium waste products were disposed of into an unlined holding basin on the Main Street property. The waste products migrated downward over time and contaminated soil and groundwater at the property.
“The site contains a number of different contaminants but the main drivers of the cleanup are depleted uranium and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),” Rappoli wrote in an email to Wicked Local. “Also present in the groundwater are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 1,4-dioxane, which was likely added to the VOCs as a stabilizer. Together, the aforementioned contaminants are the focus of the remediation.”
Are residents at risk?
Paul Boehm, chair of the 2229 Main Street Advisory Task Force, and his daughters live in Thoreau Hills, a Concord neighborhood abutting the contaminated site.
Boehm, an environmental consultant, said the contaminants at the site are not radioactive.
“The site is being cleaned up because of the toxicity of the various chemicals, which is not radioactivity,” he said. “Toxicicity is if you get exposed to it, you can get sick from the chemicals.”
He said it’s a question he is asked frequently.
“They handled radioactive materials there but what they’re cleaning up is not radioactive materials,” Boehm said, adding that there are still health and ecological risks, which is why the land is on the Superfund site list.
Threat to Acton’s drinking water
The Superfund site has also been a threat to Acton’s drinking water, said Boehm, because contaminated groundwater has been flowing off the site and into Acton’s drinking water.
Dr. Kim Kastens, chair of the Water Committee of Green Acton, has been advocating for thorough and protective clean up of the Concord’s site. She has written extensively about the plume of 1,4-dioxane that has been flowing northwest from the site, underneath the Assabet River and approaching Acton’s public water supply wells.
Since 2016, the EPA has been containing and treating the VOCs and 1,4-dioxane in the groundwater and installed interceptor wells to cut off the flow of contamination to Acton’s drinking water.
“Green Acton’s primary concern with the planning for reuse of the NMI site is to ensure that the robust program of monitoring, extraction and treatment that is currently preventing a plume of toxic 1,4-dioxane from reaching the public water supply wells of Acton must be continued without interruption or diminishment,” Kastens wrote in an email to Wicked Local.
Possible future uses of Concord’s Superfund Site
Boehm estimates that $250 million will be spent on the Superfund site cleanup.
“There’s a lot of trust that it’s going to be cleaned up, and it’s going to be very useful, productive land,” he said.
Boehm said the site will be a clean palette once cleanup is complete.
“The possibilities for site development are intriguing,” said Rappoli. He said it’s a critical time for residents to learn more, and encouraged them to attend the upcoming meetings.
A comprehensive report by the NMI/Starmet Reuse Planning Committee was submitted to the Select Board in April 2021. The report includes possible future uses such as recreation, housing or commercial use.
Boehm said by the fall of 2024 his committee will make a recommendation about whether the town should acquire the land.
Source : Wicked Local
