RSA in Huntsville, AL, is home to over 130 landowners and tenants including the U.S. Army, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. Historically, three CA plants produced toxic agents on RSA between 1940 and 1945. In addition, CWM items were assembled and packaged at RSA during this period. After World War II, up to 1 million munitions items were brought to RSA for evaluation and demilitarization. Combined, these activities created a very complex suite of potential CWM items. The U.S. Government considers RSA to be the largest and most challenging CWM site in the United States in terms of the quantity, condition, and variety of items, regulatory issues, and potential remediation costs.
RSA has 17 suspected CWM sites for which the Alabama Department of Environmental Management has requested removal as an interim measure. As prime contractor, HGL has been conducting major CWM field efforts on 5 of these sites, and its key staff have direct experience on all 17 CWM sites. HGL’s interim measures at the five sites have included conducting AGC and DGM surveys, excavating test pits, investigating single-point anomalies, collecting soil and groundwater samples, removing surface and subsurface CWM/munitions and explosives of concern (MEC), and removing and processing large former disposal areas containing CWM/MEC and other toxic materials.
