nuclear-news

New Hampshire shopping complex site has buried radioactive material

Radioactive material to stay put as factory becomes retail center By MARK HAYWARD
New Hampshire Union Leader, 21 Feb 16, MANCHESTER — Before developers go ahead with the conversion of the former Osram Sylvania light-bulb factory into a $60 million shopping center, they have to address one little problem — a buried vault of radioactive material on the property.

Earlier this month, developer Dick Anagnost disclosed the only containment of its kind in New Hampshire of radioactive contaminated soil.

Reportedly safe, it will be located beneath a portion of the parking lot of the would-be shopping center. But for financing purposes, Anagnost and his partner, Brady-Sullivan Properties, need to carve off a half-acre lot that contains the vault. He has asked the Manchester Planning Board to approve the subdivision.

The concrete vault contains thorium, a radioactive element used at the plant from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, according to state health officials.

When decommissioning the plant, Sylvania discovered that thorium had contaminated some soil. The contaminated material was encapsulated following guidelines set by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Anagnost told the New Hampshire Union Leader……

– See more at: http://www.unionleader.com/Radioactive-material-to-stay-put-as-factory-becomes-retail-center#sthash.5NGL8Sk5.dpuf

February 22, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, USA