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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.
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