oEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA/540/SR-92/015 October 1992 SUPERFUND INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION Technology Demonstration Summary SITE Program Demonstration of a Trial Excavation at the McColl Superfund Site Region IX of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in coopera- tion with EPA's Air and Energy Engi- neering Research Laboratory (AEERL) and EPA's Superfund Innovative Tech- nology Evaluation (SITE) Program, and with assistance from the California De- partment of Health Services (DHS), conducted a trial waste excavation project at the McColl Superfund site in Fullerton, CA. In the early to mid-1940s, the McColl site was used for disposal of acidic refinery sludge, and in 1982, it was placed on the National Priorities List (NPL). The McColl waste is known to release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and sulfur dioxide (SO) when- ever disturbed. Since 1984, the entire site has been covered with soil in an attempt to minimize atmospheric emis- sions of VOCs and SO . In February 1989, EPA and DHS is- sued a proposed plan for the McColl project selecting thermal destruction, either on or offsite, as the preferred remedy. An important component of this remedy is the excavation and waste-handling activities that must oc- cur before thermal destruction. The overall goal of the trial excavation was to obtain information pertaining to these activities that would support the selec- tion of thermal destruction as the pre- ferred remedy and that would aid in the design of a thermal destruction remedy. EPA determined that the trial exca- vation was necessary to ascertain if the McColl waste could be excavated with conventional equipment without releasing significant amounts of VOCs and SO2 to the surrounding community. The trial excavation was also necessary to define the treatment needed, if any, to improve the handling characteristics of the waste as a precursor to thermal destruction. The trial excavation was a research project designed to gather in- formation for use in the design of the final remediation for Superfund sites and specifically for the McColl Super- fund site in Fullerton, CA. This Summary was developed by EPA's Air and Energy Engineering Re- search Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC, and Risk Reduction Engineer- ing Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to an- nounce key findings of the SITE pro- gram demonstration that is fully docu- mented in a separate volume of the same title (see ordering information at back). Printed on Recycled Paper ------- The EPA Project Managers were J. A. McSorley, Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; J. Blevins, EPA Region IX, San Francisco, CA 94105; and J. Hubbard, Risk Reduc- tion Engineering Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH 45268 (see below). The complete report, entitled "SITE Program Demonstration of a Trial Excava- tion at the McColl Superfund Site," (Order No. PB92-226 448/AS; Cost: $35.00, subject to change) will be available only from: National Technical Information Service 5285 Port Royal Road Springfield, VA 22161 , Telephone: 703-487-4650 For further information, J. Hubbard can be contacted at: Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Cincinnati, OH 45268 United States Environmental Protection Agency Center for Environmental Research Information Cincinnati, OH 45268 Official Business Penalty for Private Use $300 BULK RATE POSTAGE & FEES PAID EPA PERMIT No. G-35 EPA/540/SR-92/015 ------- |