March 09, 1993

The work plan leading to the long-term cleanup of the Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal specifies numerous areas of contamination inside the 60 acres of building at the site, including leaking sewer lines, chemical spills and piles of waste products.

Other problems at the former rayon plant include the line through which materials were transported during the production process, laboratory waste and asbestos.

Potential problems outside of the buildings include 220 acres of impoundments, including basins that the FMC Corp., a former owner of the plant, is pumping out and treating. If the basins, which are in the 100-year flood plain are left unattended, they pose a threat to the Shenandoah River and to downstream water intakes, the plan says.

Other contaminated areas are scrap viscose basins and fill areas, including landfills and a mountain of coal ash. The river and ground water are sources of contamination off the site.

The work plan proposes that at least 36 monitoring wells be drilled to monitor ground water contamination.

While spills of the chemicals that remain on site would present a threat to workers, a previous health assessment says the contaminants don't represent an imminent threat to the general population.

But the study says a measurable amount of carbon disulfide, one of the chemicals used to make rayon, was deposited downwind from the plant.

Work on the plan, released last week, began in December 1991.

The document was drafted by the Hailburton NUS Environmental Corp. and Gannett Fleming Inc., two contractors for the Environmental Protection Agency.

The next step in the cleanup of the 440-acre site will include the installation of monitoring wells and borings for subsurface soil sampling on and off the site. Surface soil samples, surface water, sediment, aquatic life, solid waste, liquid waste, air and drinking well samples also will be taken.

The EPA is now ready to conduct a remedial investigation, which will identify remaining environmental hazards, and a feasibility study, which will recommend the best way of dealing with those problems.

The General Chemical property, located northwest of the site along Kendrick Lane, is not included in the plan. The site includes Avtex property prior to the purchase of General Chemical in 1986. That site, which was used to manufacture and later to store sulfuric acid, will be the subject of later EPA action, according to the work plan.

Field inspection, sampling and testing on the sewers, buildings, on-site soils, basins, landfill areas and river should be completed by the end of September.

Well drilling and ground water monitoring will start in September and will continue into the first quarter of next year.