1.0 PURPOSE
The Site Operations Work Plan (Plan) for the BOMARC Missile Site Plutonium Remediation at McGuire AFB, NJ is the guide used for all work associated with the BOMARC Missile Site Plutonium Remediation Project. Its purpose is for the safe, effective, and efficient execution of the work. The work activities and the duration's are given in the Project Schedule, Appendix E. The Plan ensures compliance with local, state and federal regulatory requirements.
The Scope of Work covered by the Plan is the excavation of soil and dismantling of structures contaminated with plutonium above the site release criteria of 8pCi/g. The waste will be packaged and transported to an appropriate licensed off-site disposal facility. The highest regard will be given to the safety of the workers and public. Environmental integrity will be maintained throughout the project.
The Plan elements cover the quality expectations of the project, particularly with respect to contamination survey analysis and adherence to the site release criteria.
1.1 Background
The BOMARC facility occupies approximately 218 acres just east of Ocean County route 539 in Plumsted Township, Ocean County, New Jersey. The facility is approximately 11 road miles east of McGuire AFB and is contained within the Fort Dix Military Reservation on land permitted to the Air Force.
The Air Force built rows of shelters to house nuclear warhead-equipped BOMARC missiles at this facility during the 1950s and 1960s. The Air Force deactivated the facility in 1972 after they removed all missiles from the shelters. Although the facility is inactive, it remains under Air Force jurisdiction.
On June 7, 1960, an explosion and fire occurred in BOMARC Missile Shelter 204. The force of the explosion destroyed portions of the shelter roof, causing flames to rise to 20 feet, and caused black smoke to blanket the area. Initially, the fire burned uninhibited for about 30 minutes. Firefighters sprayed the area with water from fire hoses for approximately 15 hours as part of the fire-fighting activities. As a result, plutonium-contaminated water flowed under the front door of Missile Shelter 204, down the asphalt apron and street,
and into the drainage ditch leading outside the site boundary. At one point during fire-fighting efforts, responding personnel constructed an earthen dam across the ditch to contain the contaminated water. The drainage ditch runs in a southerly direction from Shelter 204 and parallels the site boundary fence for several hundred feet before it enters a series of underground culverts and eventually crosses underneath Ocean County Route 539. From this point, the culvert opens into a sandy ditch that eventually flattens into a wooded area.
Although no nuclear explosion took place, the nuclear warhead, which contained plutonium, enriched uranium, and bottled tritium, burned and partially melted. The fire destroyed the missile and badly damaged the missile shelter. The explosion displaced the oxidizer tank, yet it remained intact. Residue from the burning warhead contaminated the concrete floor. In addition to the severely damaged roof, flying fragments of the helium and fuel tanks pitted the floor and concrete walls. The accident also deformed the steel roof beams and caused heat damage to the shelter walls.
Air Force procedures in effect at the time of the accident included removal of contaminated debris from the shelter for disposal as waste. Existing records indicate that additional radioactive waste from the site was disposed at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. Records also indicate that they applied containment measures to the missile shelter and the asphalt apron.
During the fire, tar had melted and spread in a thin layer onto sections of the floor of Shelter 204. Several sections of the floor containing tar showed alpha radiation readings of over two million counts per minute (cpm). Alpha radiation levels in the center of the road outside the shelter were also two million cpm. The Air Force again washed down the entire area with water and then allowed it to dry. Presumably, the wash water drained into the drainage ditch.
After the area was completely dry, they spray painted the inside of the shelter to shield alpha particle emissions. They also painted the outside area. After the paint had dried enough to walk on, they took radioactivity readings again. Areas that had previously shown 2,000,000 cpm then showed 0 cpm, due to the shielding effect of the paint layer on alpha radiation emitted by the plutonium. Some of the fringe areas, however, showed readings ranging from 50 to 500 cpm.
Shortly after the 1960 missile accident, explosive ordnance personnel recovered seven containers of plutonium. The DOE conducted measurements of the recovered material. The amount of plutonium in the warhead remains classified. However, DOE and Air Force scientists prepared an unclassified account of the disposition of the recovered material during that period. The account indicates that the estimate of the upper limit of the plutonium that could be on-site is 300 grams.
Later in June 1960, the Air Force poured 4 inches of reinforced concrete over the asphalt apron in front of Shelter 204 to fix the plutonium contamination under a protective overburden. In addition, they placed 2 inches of asphalt along the bottom of the drainage ditch located inside the site boundary fence and added an additional 2 inches of concrete to a small portion of the shelter apron area in 1967. They filled the pit area inside Shelter 204 with soil excavated from the rear of the shelter.
1.2 Project Organization and Key Personnel
The project will be managed by an organization led by a Project Manager, and a Construction Manager that are supported by a Project Team of field and home office personnel and key subcontractors.
The goals of the Project Team are to provide responsible and responsive assurance that safety and quality standards, technical management, effective cost and schedule control, and effective communication with the Industrial Operations Command (IOC) are met for this remediation effort. To meet these goals, the project organization will implement the following features:
Independent quality assurance and safety reviews and audits to insure that the project Quality Safety and Assurance goals are met,
Direct reporting and technical supervision among the various components, with clearly defined project control responsibilities and authorities
Experienced and qualified key technical personnel assigned to major work elements and
Direct interaction of project technical personnel with the IOC and the Air Force.
The project organization and key personnel that will be employed in performing the BOMARC Remedial Action are depicted on Figure 1-1.
As a pre-condition for assignment to the Site, all Site workers will be 40-hour Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazardous Waste Operations (HAZWOPER) certified and will be covered under medical monitoring programs meeting 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 1910.120. General employee radiation training and associated radiological monitoring will be handled as site-specific activities, as specified in the Radiation Protection Plan (Appendix B).
A description of overall duties and responsibilities by major functional work area follows:
1.2.1 Project Manager
The Project Manager (PM) is responsible for the overall safety, coordination and direction of the remediation effort. He will serve as the principal point of contact with the IOC project organization. The PM is responsible for overall health, safety, regulatory compliance, quality, schedule and cost control, project staffing and employee relations, subcontractor approval, and management and direction.
1.2.2 Construction Manager
Remediation construction activities consisting of mobilization, environmental protective activities, remediation activities and operations (i.e., excavation, dismantling, waste transportation, etc.) will be under the day-to-day management of the Construction Manager (CM). The CM will report to the PM. For remediation operations, he will be directly responsible for each of the following major functional areas:
· The CM will directly oversee mobilization activities with support from construction technicians,
· Excavation and material management consisting of excavation stockpiles (i.e., >8 pCi/g and <8 pCi/g Pu 239/240 soils) and shelter debris from demolition, soil weighing and load-out into intermodal containers, backfill of excavated areas and their restoration,
· Oversight of packaging and transportation activities,
· Environmental Control Systems, Decontamination Operations, and Maintenance including water and dust control systems, non-personnel decontamination operations (i.e., equipment, debris, roads, etc.), facilities and equipment maintenance.
1.2.3 Site Certified Health Physicist
The Site Certified Health Physicist (CHP) will be responsible for day-to-day compliance monitoring of the approved Health and Safety Plan (HASP) (Appendix A) with emphasis on the Radiation Protection Plan (Appendix B). Specific tasks include site-specific personnel training, maintenance of the medical monitoring program, personal protective equipment (PPE), respiratory protection and decontamination operations, and operations support to the on-site construction work force. The CHP is the site safety representative, who will report to the PM while having direct lines of communications to the Home Office.
1.2.4 Site Sample Coordinator
The Site Sample Coordinator will be responsible for the day-to-day direction and oversight of the on-site laboratory operations, radiological and non-radiological sampling, and surveying support services. He will directly oversee the majority of the activities during the mobilization phase of the project. The Site Sample Coordinator will collect samples under the guidance of the CHP and will report to the CM. For remediation operations, on-site staff in each of the following major functional areas will support him:
· Laboratory Operations consisting of maintenance of the air and water monitoring programs, real time soil scanning in support of the excavation and material stockpile operations, on-site laboratory analysis for rail car shipments and radiation control both within and outside designated exclusion zones, Final Status Survey sampling, off-site laboratory analysis coordination, facilities and equipment radiological monitoring, and records maintenance and transfer to the Site Quality Assurance (QA) Officer.
· Engineering in the establishment and maintenance of the Site coordinate system, land surveying (i.e., property boundaries, pre-and post-excavation limits, and post-restoration), inspection and testing support, regulatory compliance monitoring, and records maintenance and transfer to the Site QA Officer.
1.2.5 Hazardous Material Broker
The Hazardous Material Broker (Broker) provides on-site knowledge in the packaging, transportation, and disposal of low-level radioactive and certain hazardous wastes. The Broker will assist the generator in ensuring that the packaged waste complies with federal, state, and burial site requirements, including 10 CFR Part 61, 10 CFR Part 71 (NRC transportation regulations) and 49 CFR Parts 100-177 (DOT transportation regulations). The Broker will report to the CM. The Broker has experience in shipping radiological waste and will provide the project with the following services:
· Provide guidance concerning physical and radiological surveys of packages to ensure compliance with U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) and U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) shipping regulations, including marking, labeling, and waste classification,
· Complete shipping papers to ensure compliance with applicable federal, state, and disposal site regulations,
· Assistance in completing prior notification forms and permit applications, as well as making timely prior notifications to state, federal and other regulatory agencies, as required,
· Ensuring proper loading and bracing of radioactive material shipments,
· Radiological inspection of the loaded vehicle to ensure compliance with USDOT, USNRC, and IOC shipping regulations and
· Consulting services prior to shipping to ensure on-site activities are efficient and effective.
1.2.6 Site Quality Assurance Officer
The Site Quality Assurance Officer (QA) will be responsible for day-to-day monitoring, surveillance and inspection to verify compliance with the Plan and its Appendices, including records filing and archiving. The QA Officer will report to the PM.
1.2.7 Home Office Support
Home Office support staff will be temporarily assigned to the project on an as-needed basis and will consist of safety professionals, regulatory affairs personnel, engineers, scientists and technical specialists, principally from the Columbia, South Carolina Office, and the Trenton and Somerset Offices in New Jersey.
1.2.8 Subcontractors
Subcontractor services are presently anticipated for the site surveying (topography, site survey, etc) during the mobilization phase of the project. Subcontractors services during remedial operations will include land surveying, off-site laboratory analyses, waste transportation, on-site laboratory operations, and radiation control technicians.
2.0 REFERENCES
2.1 10 CFR Part 61 and Part 71, NRC Transportation Regulations,
2.2 29 CFR Part 1910.120 and 1200, and Part 1926 Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
2.3 49 CFR Parts 100-185, DOT Transportation Regulations,
2.4 CNS Procedure, CN-AD-005, First Notification Procedure,
2.5 CNS Procedure, CN-EM-002, CNS Transportation Emergency Response Plan,
2.6 CNS Procedure, QA-AD-001, Quality Assurance Program,
2.7 NRC Regulatory Guide 1.86, Termination of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Reactors,
2.8 NJDEP, 1987, Guidelines for Soil Erosion and Sediment Control,
2.9 USACE, 1997, Radiation Protection Manual, EM385-1-80, May 1997,
2.10 USACE, 1997, Guidance for Low Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) and Mixed Waste (MW) Treatment and Handling, EM 385-1-80. Prepared by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Washington, D.C. 30 Jun 1997,
2.11 USACE, 1996, Chemical Data Quality Management for Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste Remediation Activities, EM 1110-1-263. Prepared by U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Washington, D.C. 1 April 1996,
2.12 United States Air Force, November 1992, Record of Decision, Bomarc Missile Accident Site, McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey,
2.13 USEPA, 1997, Multi-Agency Radiation Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM), EPA 402-R-97-016 (NUREG-1575). DOD, DOE, NRC, USEPA. December 1997.
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