NIAGARA COUNTY, N.Y. — The latest round of appropriation bills passed by Congress has guaranteed that the removal of early atomic-age waste in Niagara County can begin.
In total, the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Buffalo District will be $155 million in the 2025 budget that was just agreed on by federal lawmakers. Two projects will be receiving a total of $67.5 million — the Niagara Falls Storage Site in Lewiston, and the former Guterl Steel site in Lockport.
These two sites are part of the USACE Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), a federal project aimed at remediating sites across the county with ties to early atomic energy production.
Niagara Falls Storage Site
2 On Your Side shares the story of the Manhattan Project waste buried at the Niagara Falls Storage Site last year. The Army Corps continues to finalize its plans for two phases of site remediation at the Pletcher Road facility.
Phase 1 will see the removal of waste on the 191-acre grounds of the NFSS outside of the clay-capped interim waste containment site (IWCS). Army Corps project managers say they have detailed maps and know where the contaminated areas outside the IWCS are located — those materials include soil, roads, building debris, trees, and other vegetation that will be removed.
USACE anticipates using trucks to remove the waste when Phase 1 begins later this spring or summer.
Previously, $40 million had been awarded to a contractor to develop a plan and design to remove the material at the NFSS site.
With the newly approved budget, NFSS will receive an additional $9.55 million for the remediation effort.
The USACE anticipates the total cost to clean the site to be north of $500 million.
Guterl Steel/Simonds Saw & Steel
Lake Ontario Ordnance Works/Niagara Falls Storage Site wasn't the only facility in Niagara County connected to atomic age research, development, and production.
Formerly known as Simonds Saw & Steel on Ohio Street in Lockport, Guterl Steel is another contaminated facility.
Between 1948 and 1958, between 25 and 35 million pounds of uranium were processed at Guterl.
Additionally, 30,000 to 40,000 pounds of Thorium were also produced at the site. Much of that radioactive material was transported to Atomic Energy Commission sites across the country, including Oak Ridge, Tenn.
According to the monitoring conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers, there is contamination in multiple buildings and the groundwater directly under the site.
However, according to the USACE, the contamination poses no immediate threat to the public.
An aluminum chain link fence separates the public from the site.
With the approved funding in the 2025 budget, $57.5 million will be allocated to begin remediation efforts.
The Army Corps of Engineers plans to remove all buildings from the site, carefully deconstructing them. Removal of contaminated groundwater near the bedrock of the site will also be done.
One challenge will be to ensure any contaminated material doesn't leech into the Erie Canal, which is less than 500 feet from the radioactive site.
According to the project manager for the Guterl site, a contract to begin cleanup isn't expected to be awarded until summer 2025.