The Northern Virginia Daily

Article date: October 07, 2005

 Cutting edge

Boiler house cleanup about one-fourth completed

By William C. Flook

Crews are busy mopping up the remnants of the implosion of the boiler house, while officials say cleanup and redevelopment are progressing at the Avtex Superfund site.

The Sept. 19 implosion of the structure left a hill of steel and rubble to be removed by C&R Environmental Associates Inc., a Baltimore-based firm contracted by the Army Corps of Engineers.  C&R has removed about a quarter of the debris, according to Senior Field Superintendent Ron Feather.

He said the steel will be removed and recycled, and the masonry materials will be crushed and re-used at the site. 

The company recently tore down the small compressor room, which leaves only the power house standing of the original three adjoining buildings, according to Feather.  Demolition of that building may begin within a month, he said.

“That’s basically the hardest part of the whole job,” he said.

The implosion, which was carried out by CDI and Associates, drew a sizable crowd of residents, politicians, and retirees from the former rayon plant.  CDI rigged 150 pounds of explosives throughout the boiler house, which quickly crumbled into a pile 30 feet high.

Feather said C&R probably will be working on the site for another year to completely remove the remnants and remaining building.

The approximately 440-acre site is slated to become a 160-acre business park, a 240-acre conservancy park, and a 30-acre soccer complex.

Cleanup elsewhere on the site also is progressing, according to John Torrence, Avtex site manager for FMC Corp., a company charged with a hefty portion of the Superfund’s remediation.  Their work is far from finished, he said.

“We’ll be working for years to finish the job,” he said.

Barring any unforseen circumstances, FMC could be finished with a 70-acre parcel at the northern part of the site by roughly the summer of 2006, said Torrence.

After the EPA declares it has “no further interest” in the parcel, it would be the first area the Front Royal Warren County Economic Development Authority would be able to redevelop, he said.

FMC is analyzing soil on the north half of the site, which has so far proven to be mostly clean,  Torrence said.  He said once the buildings and rubble are removed on the south half, FMC can begin testing there.

Torrence said he expects the soil to be largely clean, because it was covered up by buildings while the plant was in operation.

Identifying a buyer for the business park could be imminent, with the EDA expecting official letters of interest from groups willing to take on the redevelopment of the parcel, according to EDA Executive Director Paul Carroll. 

The EDA has received draft forms from two letters, he said.