Groundwater beneath the former Tarheel Army Missile Plant in Burlington contains two types of toxic PFAS at levels hundreds, even thousands of times higher than proposed state standards. Yet the
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Army officials shut down the SM-1A in 1972 after 10 years of operation and partially dismantled and mothballed the facility until they could figure out what to do with it. The Corps of Engineers now proposes to remove what’s left of the old power plant in a draft Environmental Assessment released last week that the agency will share with the public on Tuesday in Fairbanks and Thursday in Delta Junction.
Some of the SM-1A s radioactive components that were not removed are sealed and entombed in the cylindrically shaped vapor containment tower at left.
Credit KUAC file photo
“We wanted to make sure that we were hosting the meetings in Fairbanks and in Delta, in order to try to encourage more public participation,” says Project Manager Brenda Barber.