EPA v. NUCLEAR METALS SUPERFUND SITE

Case summary

On April 30, 2024, A minor modification to the RD/RA CD was entered to change the process for requesting additional funds for performance of the remedy. There are no additional costs or work associated with this change. On December 6, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts approved the United States' motion to enter the Consent Decree for Remedial Design and Remedial Action for the Nuclear Metals, Inc. Superfund Site in Concord, Massachusetts. The RD/RA CD was lodged with the District Court on October 9, 2019 and notice in the Federal Register of a 30-day comment period was published on October 17, 2019. No adverse comments on the CD were received. In the CD, four potentially responsible parties (two federal agencies and two private parties) have agreed to finance and/or conduct all remedial design and remedial action activities for the Site. The remedy for the Site was selected by EPA in the 2015 Record of Decision and was estimated to cost $125,000,000. The remedy will address contaminated soil, sediment, and groundwater at the Site. The PRPs will also pay all of EPA past and future costs. The Site is a former research and specialized metals manufacturing facility. The facility was licensed to possess low-level radioactive substances. During the facility's operations, wastes contaminated with depleted uranium, copper and nitric acid were disposed of in an unlined holding basin and other areas of the Site. On April 20, 2018, EPA referred to the Department of Justice a Consent Decree for Remedial Design/Remedial Action at the Nuclear Metals, Inc. Superfund Site in Concord, MA. In the RD/RA CD, four potentially responsible parties (two federal agencies and two private parties) have agreed to finance and/or conduct all remedial design and remedial action activities for the Site. The remedy for the Site was selected by EPA in the 2015 Record of Decision, and was estimated to cost $125,000,000. The remedy will address contaminated soil, sediment, and groundwater at the Site. The PRPs will also pay all of EPA past and future costs. Past costs total approximately $398,000.

Defendants (4)

• US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGYNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• US ARMYNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Whittaker CorpNamed in complaintNamed in settlement
• Textron Inc.Named in complaintNamed in settlement

Facilities (1)

• NUCLEAR METALS SUPERFUND SITE

  2229 MAIN ST, CONCORD, MA, 01742

  Registry ID: 110000309452

Statutes cited

• CERCLA 106A — Imminent & Substantial Endangerment Order
• CERCLA 107A — Cost Recovery

Enforcement conclusions (2)

• NUCLEAR METALS SUPERFUND SITEentered 2019-12-06

  Primary law: CERCLA

• NUCLEAR METALS SUPERFUND SITEentered 2024-04-30

  Primary law: CERCLA

Timeline (5 milestones)

• 2018-04-20Referred To Dept Of Justice
• 2018-08-28Enforcement Action Data Entered
• 2019-10-09Complaint Filed With Court
• 2024-04-30Final Order Lodged
• 2024-04-30Final Order Entered