Photographs Documenting Environmental Cleanup Operations at the Mound Site in Miamisburg, Ohio, 2007 - 2009

This Series describes records, some of which may not be available online.

To obtain a copy or view the records, please contact or visit the National Archives and Records Administration location(s) listed in the Contact information below.

National Archives Identifier:

5710231

Local Identifier:

434-MD

Creator(s):

Department of Energy. Mound Site. (ca. 1989 - 08/2009) (Most Recent)

From:

Record Group 434: General Records of the Department of Energy, 1915 - 2007

Details

Level of Description:

Series

Type(s) of Archival Materials:

Photographs and other Graphic Materials

The creator compiled or maintained the series between:

2007 - 2009

Includes

119 item(s) described in the catalog.

Function and Use:

The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Mound Site operation compiled this series to provide DOE headquarters offices, other federal agencies, and the media with pictorial evidence of the challenges encountered, and progress made, in the cleanup of radiological and chemical contaminants on the grounds of the former Mound Plant. Nearly one-third of the images were reproduced in the DOE contractor's final reports on the respective landfill, sewer line, and railroad yard cleanup projects documented in this series.

Numbering Note:

Requests for items in this series must include the record group number, series designator, and agency-assigned image file name, the latter usually incorporating either a date along with a format extension, or a camera-derived prefix (e.g., IMG), frame number, and format extension. (Examples=434-MD-9_20_07.JPG; 434-MD-IMG_0803.JPG; 434-MD-HPIM1867A.JPG).

Arrangement:

Arranged in a roughly chronological sequence by date of photographic creation.

Access Restriction(s):

Unrestricted

Use Restriction(s):

Unrestricted

Finding Aid Type:

Index

Finding Aid Note:

An electronic index in the series "Index to Photographs Documenting Environmental Cleanup Operations at the Mound Site in Miamisburg, Ohio, 2007-2009" (ARC Identifier 5711572), with entries for file name, creation date, project location, and a brief narrative caption corresponding to each of the 119 images, provides item-level access to this series.

Finding Aid Source:

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY. MOUND SITE.

Finding Aid Type:

Other

Finding Aid Note:

Reference copies of the final Department of Energy contractor reports on the respective Mound landfill, sewer line, and railroad yard projects, providing detailed explanation of conditions, operations, technologies, and remediations at sites shown in the photographs, are available in the research room.

Finding Aid Source:

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY. MOUND SITE.

Accession Number(s):

LT-0434-2011-0001
NN3-434-10-026

Disposition Authority Number(s):

N1-434-98-23, Item 1.1 a and b

Subjects Represented in the Archival Material(s):

Scope & Content

This series consists of born-digital photographs documenting the final phase of environmental remediation work on or near the grounds of the former Mound Plant, in Miamisburg, Ohio, where intensive research, testing, and production activities in support of the nation's nuclear weapons program during the Cold War era and beyond left a variety of radiological and chemical contaminants in locations across the 306-acre site. The coverage focuses on three particular cleanup undertakings that capped more than a decade of Miamisburg Closure Project remediation efforts sponsored by the Department of Energy (DOE) in coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and a local land redevelopment authority, the Miamisburg Mound Community Improvement Corporation. In focus are cleanup activities in the landfill area (known as Operable Unit 1), specifically mandated by Congress after an earlier round of DOE-sponsored remediation efforts at this same 1950's-1970's-era waste disposal site failed to satisfy Miamisburg officials; removal of abandoned manholes and sewer lines (known collectively as Potential Release Site 7), including one leading off the Mound property to an outfall line at the Great Miami River; and cleanup of the railroad yard area (Potential Release Site 441), exposed to pollution during the nuclear facility's active era through loading and unloading operations involving materials associated with polonium, thorium, and plutonium projects, and exposed again during the hazardous waste site remediation era through the loading of toxic materials for shipment to an authorized disposal center in Utah. Photographs show crews from the principal DOE contractor that carried out these late cleanup operations, the Accelerated Remediation Company, using heavy-duty excavators and loaders to expose, separate, and remove soil layers bearing traces of thorium-232, polonium-210, and other radioactive waste, as well as remains of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) and volatile organic compounds such as tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene, and dichloroethene. Also shown are areas carefully flagged for extraction of soil and groundwater samples for testing of contamination levels; challenges posed by pools of contaminated water collecting in freshly excavated areas; examples of debris uncovered, ranging from old storage tanks and construction I-beams to gas cylinders and metal boxes for explosive devices; exterior and interior sections of cast-iron pipes affected by toxic substances; removal of contaminant-collecting high-density polyethylene liners from, and concrete plugging of, pipe sections; backfilling work performed in areas of heavy soil extraction; and completed or nearly completed environmental upgrades, among them a new rail bed at the railroad yard and a bike path over ground in which one of the abandoned sewer lines had run. Included in the railroad yard coverage are closeups of freight cars equipped with strapped-on lid additions designed to prevent contact between toxic loads and surrounding environments. Along with these views from the respective project sites, the series also provides glimpses of the planning dimension: photographs of the display boards used at Accelerated Remediation Company staff meetings to map daily targets, resources, and logistics. Photographs represented in this series were taken by various members of the Accelerated Remediation Company's Mound project team, headed by Dennis Dalga.

Variant Control Numbers

ARC Identifier:: 5710231

Archived Copies

Copy 1:

Reproduction-Reference

Extent (Size):

119 image files

Contact(s):

Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Phone: 301-837-0561
Fax: 301-837-3621
Email: stillpixorder@nara.gov

Count:

Letter Archives Box, Standard 1.0

Copy 1 Media Information:

Specific Media Type: Optical Disk: Compact Disk
Media Occurrence Note: All of the 119 digital photographs stored on the compact disk are born-digital, and all are in Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) format. File sizes range from 77.61 KB to 5.09 MB, with 1 to 2.5 MB most typical. All are 24-bit RGB color images; resolutions of 3.1 megapixels or 7.1 megapixels are most common, with scattered entries at 2.1 megapixels or lower.
Piece Count: 1
Reproduction Count: 119 optical disk: compact disk(s)

Copy 2:

Preservation