Army Corps to conduct emergency exercise at Shallow Land Disposal Area in Parks Township

An emergency drill is set for Wednesday afternoon at a Parks Township nuclear waste dump.

The Army Corps of Engineers said the exercise will include increased security, emergency vehicles and personnel, and likely sirens from 1 to 4 p.m.

The drill will assess the ability of corps staff, its cleanup contractor and local first responders to handle various potential emergencies at the 44-acre site along the Kiski River in Armstrong County. The exercise is in advance of remediation work.

The Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corp. (NUMEC) operated on the site in the 1960s and early ’70s, leaving behind enriched uranium and other harmful substances from the production of materials primarily for nuclear-powered submarines and power plant fuel. The site is now known as the Shallow Land Disposal Area by federal agencies.

It is owned by BWX Technologies Inc., formerly Babcock & Wilcox.

Several large structures have been built there to dig up 10 trenches worth of radioactive and otherwise toxic waste.

All materials will then be packed into containers and moved by truck to a facility in Wampum, Lawrence County, about 60 miles northwest of Parks Township. From there, they’ll be loaded onto a train and taken for permanent disposal in Utah.

Remediation is expected to take about seven years and cost more than a half-billion dollars.

The agency has been holding regular public sessions to detail the project and answer questions. Residents have expressed concern that government contractors can do the work without harming their community.

The next public information session will be Nov. 5 at the Parks Township Fire Department, 1119 Dalmatian Drive, Vandergrift. A time was not released.