A plan to construct a landfill at the former Avtex Fibers plant in Front Royal to store debris resulting from the demolition of buildings at the site will be unveiled next week by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers, which is designing the landfill, will release details concerning the landfill’s location and how it will be constructed at a meeting at the Front Royal Town Hall on Thursday at 7 p.m., according to EPA spokesman Patrick Gaughan.

Design of the landfill is about 30 percent complete and should be ready in December, he said. The EPA is proceeding with preparations for its construction by stabilizing thousands of yards of wet flyash in two basins west of the railroad tracks, he said.

The EPA earmarked $33 million for the demolition and on-site burial of deteriorating buildings at the Avtex property last September. A study determined that many of the buildings were on the verge of collapsing and should be torn down to reduce the threat of pollutants spreading to the community.

The actions are part of a Superfund hazardous waste cleanup at the former rayon and viscose processing plant located on 449 acres adjacent to the Shenandoah River. Avtex Fibers was declared a Superfund site in 1986. It voluntarily closed its doors in November 1989 after it was cited for more that 2,000 violations of environmental laws.

Demolition of about 35 acres of the 75 acres of buildings on the site began in November. Since the removal of the smokestack, the EPA has torn down more that 740,000 square feet of multilevel structures.

One of the tallest remaining buildings to be demolished is a six-story structure, referred as to the No. 2 churn and mix building. The structure, scheduled for removal on July 24, is more that 100 feet tall.

The landfill will hold debris resulting from the demolition of the buildings that cannot be shipped for disposal and cannot be recycled. Highly contaminated materials will be disposed elsewhere, according to Gaughan.

The idea of an on-site landfill was met with resistance a few years ago, but town and Warren County officials now say that even though they would prefer that the waste from the buildings be stored at another site, they understand that cost restrictions may not allow for that.

Officials want the site cleaned up so it can be redeveloped and the EPA has assured them that the landfill will be sealed to prevent seepage of hazardous materials.

The EPA expects to initiate disposal operations next summer.

The next phase will involve cleaning up the lagoons and ground water, Gaughan said.