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Guterl Steel Site

Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program

Buffalo District
Published Dec. 8, 2023
Updated: Dec. 8, 2023

The former Simonds Saw and Steel Company, located in Lockport, New York, was contracted by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to conduct work in support of the Nation's early atomic energy and weapons program. Between 1948 and 1956 the facility was used for foundry work and rolling mill operations on over 25-million pounds of uranium metals and over 30-thousand pounds of thorium metals. Simonds Saw and Steel was sold to Wallace and Murray, and then sold to Guterl Specialty Steel Corporation. In March 1984 Allegheny International (Allegheny Ludlum Corporation now Allegheny Technologies Incorporated [ATI Specialty Materials]) purchased the entire site with the exception of those areas that had been used during the AEC activities.

Project Status

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently released, for public review comment, the proposed plan for the Guterl Specialty Steel Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) Site. The proposed plan is available in the reports section below as well as located within the Administrative Record, Section 04, Feasibility Study, Subsections 04.09 (Feasibility Study) and 04.10 (Proposed Plan).

The public comment period began July 12, 2021, and ended September 10, 2021. A virtual public meeting was conducted on Thursday, July 29, 2021, at 7 p.m.

The proposed plan documents the Corps of Engineers’ preferred alternative to address FUSRAP-related contamination in buildings, soil, and groundwater at the Guterl Site: Site-Wide Alternative 3. The alternative includes: dismantlement and off-site disposal of buildings that were involved in Atomic Energy Commission activities during the 1940s and 1950s; removal and off-site disposal of soil to the preliminary remediation goal for groundwater protection; and uranium groundwater plume recovery using extraction wells and an in situ rubblized trench with ex situ treatment, environmental monitoring of groundwater plume attenuation (enhanced and natural). 

The feasibility study was also released to support the proposed plan. The report identifies, develops and evaluates remedial alternatives to address FUSRAP-related constituents of concern (thorium-232 and uranium in soil and buildings, and uranium in groundwater) at the site. 

The preferred alternative may be modified based on any new information acquired during the designated public comment period. Responses to comments received will be provided in the record of decision, which will identify the selected remedy to be implemented.

A link to the administrative record file for the site is available below.


Contact
FUSRAP Office
1-800-833-6390 *4
fusrap@usace.army.mil
478 Main Street, Buffalo, New York, 14202
Chick Lock

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