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
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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
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