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Creating a future for the Maxey Flats project
Friday, April 18, 2008 9:38 PM EDT
But today workers at the site will welcome the public during an open house which is focused upon not only the past history of the facility, but looking forward to the future of the site and the 500-plus-acre buffer zone around the facility.
The open house will take between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and is part of Earth Day Kentucky observance. Activities planned for the day include tours around the perimeter of the 60-acre restricted area, educational displays, wildlife programs by the Kentucky Division of Forestry and other activities.
Spending time at a former disposal site of nuclear waste on a spring day may seem strange, but to environmentalists and concerned citizens living near the site, visiting Maxey Flats provides reassurance that the mistakes of the past will not take place in the future.
Bea Cox, owner of Cox Grocery with her husband Elbert, has lived on Maxey Flat Road for 50 years. She, along with area resident Paris "JR" Jackson, agree in hindsight it would have better for everyone if the site had never been placed in their backyard.
"We had no idea what was going on when they tried to buy the property. No one knew what it was going to be until it was done," said Bea, who has compiled a scrapbook on the project over the years.
It was Bea's father-in-law "Pap" who sold the property to the Nuclear Engineering Company and she said he worried about the fact he sold the property to NEC until his passing in the late 1970s.
"He worried and worried ... because of what people would think that he sold it for that purpose," Bea said.
Both Bea and JR recounted stories of the site and the people who worked there over the years while visiting at Cox's Grocery on Thursday.
Both agree that constant monitoring of the site for leakage into the hillside rock layers and watersheds is important and necessary, but they also agreed that overall, there hasn't been proof the site has proven to be a danger to their health or those who worked at the facility.
"I don't see there's any danger at all," said JR, as he talked about the $100 million spent at the facility during the cleanup phase, deeming it unnecessary and wasted.
"They've done as well as they could with what they had there," JR said.
The past history of Maxey Flats Project isn't a pretty one: as a commercial facility used for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste from 1963 to 1977, approximately 4.7 million cubic feet of radioactive waste containing more than 2.4 million curies of by-product material, 431 kilograms of special nuclear material and 533 thousand pounds of source material were disposed of in numerous trenches in the 45 acre restricted area.
Commercial operation of the facility was stopped in 1977; it was at that time the Commonwealth of Kentucky began maintenance of the site.
During a period of 1987 through 2003, a remedial investigation and feasibility study was conducted as part of the remediation start-up and progress phase; through a series of legal procedures the cost of cleaning up the site were allocated between responsible parties and a remedial design and action plan were instituted beginning in 1996 with completion of the initial remedial phase being completed in October 2003.
Essentially during this time, clean up of 900,000 gallons of leachate was removed from the burial trenches for solidification and disposed of in a reinforced earth mounded concrete bunker; the bunker was covered with an interim cap of a geomembrane liner to keep rainwater from seeping into the ground and an extensive drainage system has been constructed around the site to keep any possible leakage from going into the hillside below the original site.
The present history of MFP is one of constant environmental monitoring and site maintenance to insure watersheds in the area are not contaminated and samples from monitoring wells read at or below regulated drinking water standards as set by the state. Eventually, once the trenches have been deemed "stabilized", a final cap of clay, geomembrane liner, topsoil and grass will cover the black scar now visible at the site.
As part of the future plans for MFP, Site Supervisor and Environmental Control Supervisor Scott Wilburn has a vision of one day utilizing the buffer zone acreage around the restricted area as a nature area for educational purposes.
During a tour of the facility on Thursday, Scott talked about the return of native wildlife such as turkey, fox, grouse, and deer to the area and has scheduled meetings with the Kentucky Division of Forestry to talk about how the wetlands and fields could be used for such things as planting native Kentucky grasses, returning butterflies to the environment, nature hikes, and educational purposes.
Scott said the scientific aspects of the site are also being marketed to local colleges for use by students majoring in fields such as physics, geology, and biology for purposes of conducting research for a thesis project.
There are also educational benefits to local fire departments for training in how to handle an environmental spill of radioactive waste materials.
"It's time to educate using what we've learned," said Scott. "I'm trying to change the impression of Maxey Flats."
While talking about possible future uses of the property and the knowledge gleaned from the mistakes of the past, Scott also credited the group of concerned citizens who brought the spotlight onto MFP and how they have helped take a negative situation to a more positive situation.
"What these people did was a tremendous effort. They are truly environmental leaders," said Scott.
With an understanding that the present work being done at the site "is never going to replace what went on out here," Scott and staff members at Maxey Flats understand what happens at the facility now will impact future generations of not only residents of Maxey Flat Road and Fleming County, but also the world.
Directions to Maxey Flats Project: from Flemingsburg, travel Kentucky 32 south toward Morehead to the Rowan/Fleming County line, turn Left onto Kentucky 1895 (Maxey Flat Road); follow for approximately 2.5 miles until you see a paved drive on left, there will be a sign at the entrance. Street number is 2597 Maxey Flat Road; telephone number 606-784-6612. To learn more about the Maxey Flats Project visit http://www.waste.ky.gov/programs/sf/.
Contact Marla Toncray at marla.toncray@lee.net or 606-564-9091, ext. 275.
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