| Abstract |
The 175-acre U.S. Titanium site, in Nelson County, Virginia, is a former titanium dioxide manufacturing plant which was operated from 1931 to 1971. Approximately 50 acres of the site will be addressed by the remedial action, including seven waste storage areas containing process wastes. These seven areas include: Area 1, a burial pit containing 16,000 cubic yards of solid ferrous sulfate (copperas); Area 2, a former copperas stockpile area; Area 3, an evaporation pond; Area 4, a 1-acre ore waste pile; Area 5, sedimentation ponds containing fine-grained sediment composed of unreacted ore, filter cake, and gypsum; Area 6, a settling pond used to recover phosphate ore; and Area 7, a drainage area, which received surface water runoff. Several of these areas lie within the 100-year floodplain of the nearby Piney River. After a large fish kill in 1979, the State ordered U.S. Titanium to bury the copperas waste from Area 2 by December 1980. The copperas waste was collected and buried in Area 1, the onsite burial pit. A supplemental remedial investigation revealed the presence of acidified soil underlying the waste storage areas that contributes to ground water contamination. The primary contaminants of concern affecting the soil, ground water, and surface water are metals including arsenic and chromium; and other inorganics including acids. |
