BUFFALO - The 5,000th intermodal container filled with radiologically contaminated material left the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) Former Linde Site in the Town of Tonawanda yesterday.

The former Linde Site is currently owned by Praxair, Incorporated, and is located at 175 East Park Drive, Tonawanda, N.Y. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is authorized under FUSRAP to clean up the site.

Between 1942 and 1946, the former Linde Air Products Division of Union Carbide processed uranium ores at the site. The work was accomplished under contract with the Manhattan Engineer District.

The material contains low levels of radioactive residue that is excavated and placed in the intermodal containers-rectangular structures that resemble commercial construction dumpsters. Each intermodal container can hold 20 tons of material. After the intermodal container is loaded with material, it is transported to the on-site rail loading area by truck, raised off the ground with a crane and lowered onto a rail car. The rail cars then leave the site and sent to license/permitted out of state disposal facilities located in either Texas or Utah. The first rail car left the site in September 2000. The Corps estimates the project is over 80 percent complete.

Congress established FUSRAP in 1974 to investigate and remediate sites that are contaminated with low levels of residual radioactive contamination as a result of the Manhattan Project. Congress transferred execution responsibility from the Department of Energy to the Corps of Engineers in 1997. To date, the Buffalo District has completed remediation at two Western New York FUSRAP sites: the Former Bliss & Laughlin Site in Buffalo and the Ashland 2 Site in Tonawanda.