------- Summary of Cleanup Options EPA considered five cleanup options. Alternative A: No Action. Cost: $0 EPA is required by law to consider the "no action" option. Alternative B: Basin Capping and Groundwater Extraction and Treatment. Cost: $24,200,000 to $25,600,000. Alternative C: Basin Capping, Groundwater Extraction and Treatment and Leachate Removal and Treatment. This is EPA's preferred option. Cost: $30,000,000 to $31,400,000. Alternative D: Basin Capping, Groundwater Extraction and In-situ Treatment of Viscose Basin Solids/Leachate with Electrical Resistance Heating (ERH). Cost: $74,200,000 to $75,600,000. Alternative E: Ex-situ treatment of Viscose Basin Solids and Ground Water Extraction/ Treatment. Cost: $142,500,000 to $143,900,000. EPA's Nine Criteria Analysis Before a final cleanup is chosen, all the options must be judged against nine criteria to make sure that EPA is selecting the best cleanup. The nine criteria are: 1. Overall Protection of Human Health and the Environment 2. Compliance with Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements 3. Long-term Effectiveness 4. Reduction ofToxicity, Mobility, or Volume through Treatment 5. Short-term Effectiveness 6. Implementability 1. Cost 8. State Acceptance 9. Community Acceptance Next Steps After the public comment period has ended and all the comments have been reviewed and carefully considered, EPA will choose the final cleanup plan for the site. The final cleanup will be described in a Record of Decision (ROD) The answers to the public comments will be recorded in a document called the Responsiveness Summary, which is part of the ROD. If EPA gets any comments or information that change our preferred cleanup option, that will also be recorded in the ROD. For More Information For more information about the plan or the documents and reports that were used in its development, or about the site in general, please visit any of the following locations: Samuels Public Library 538 Villa Avenue Front Royal, Virginia 540-635-3153 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA Administrative Records Room 1650 Arch Street - (3HS42) Philadelphia, PA 19103 Please call Anna Butch, Administrative Record Coordinator at (215) 814-3157 for an appointment. Site History The Avtex Fibers site is located in Front Royal, Virginia and occupies approximately 440 acres. The Randolph Macon Academy is located along the east property boundary. The former General Chemical plant is located along the northwest border of the site. Residential areas are located to the east, south, and north of the property. The South Fork of the Shenan- doah River is located along the western portion of the property. Operations at the site began in 1940, when American Viscose opened a rayon production plant. In 1963, American Viscose sold the plant and property to FMC, and in 1976, the plant and property were sold by FMC to Avtex Fibers-Front Royal, Inc. Rayon fibers were continually produced until the plant closed in 1989. Polyester and polypropylene were also produced over short periods of time. In 1982, the Commonwealth of Virginia detected car- bon disulfide in residential wells located across the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. In 1984, EPA proposed that the site be addressed under the Super- fund program. Between 1986 and 1988, Avtex con- ducted an investigation of the source and extent of the carbon disulfide in ground water. The investigation determined that waste viscose containing carbon disul- fide was leaching from three of the eleven viscose ba- sins (VB9, 10, and 11). In 1988, EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) which called for pumping and treating the groundwater beneath and down gradient of VB9, 10, andll. This remedy was subsequently sus- pended pending a Site-wide investigation. Shortly after the 1988 ROD was issued, Avtex shut down the facility. After the plant shut down in 1989, EPA initiated response actions to ensure there would be no uncontrolled releases of hazardous substances or other threats to human health and the environment. In the several years following the plant's shutdown, EPA responded to the various emergency and time critical conditions the site presented. In 1999, EPA and FMC entered into a comprehensive Consent Decree. FMC agreed to conduct the cleanup under EPA oversight. OU7, the subject of this Proposed Plan, groundwater, surface water and Viscose Basins 9 - 11 is the final action for the site which is not being addressed under another administrative agreement. The Remedial Inves- tigation / Feasibility Study was completed in July 2009 and is the basis for this Proposed Plan. The RI/FS ex- amined groundwater issues for the entire AVTEX site The work done at AVTEX is divided into smaller manageable phases called operable units (OUs). Over the last 20 years numerous removal and remedial ac- tivities have been conducted to address threats to hu- man health and the environment at each OU. Operable Unit One (OU-l)-Groundwater-now being addressed as part of OU-7. Operable Unit Two (OU-2) - PCB contami- nated soils treated and disposed of off- site. Completed by EPA in January 1992. Operable Unit Three (OU-3) - Dismantling and demolition of the acid reclaim build- ings, completed by EPA in September 1993. Operable Unit Four (OU-4) - Site security. This remedial action was completed by EPA in September 2002. Operable Unit 5 (OU-5) - Drums containing hazardous materials removed for proper disposal. Completed by EPA in Sep- tember 1994. Operable Unit 6 (OU-6) - Demolition of high hazard process buildings. This response action is complete. Operable Unit 7 (OU-7) - Viscose Basins 9, 10 and 11, ground water, and surface water which is the subject of this Proposed Plan. Operable Unit (OU-8) - Institutional controls recorded which permanently restrict the land use of Areas B and C to commer- cial/industrial. Operable Unit 9 (OU-9) - Ecological investiga- tion and risk assessment. Operable Unit 10 (OU-10) Consists of plant soils, visocose basins 1 through 8, the wastewater treatment plant and the new landfill. This remedial action is ongo- ing. ------- |