Atlantic Research Corporation
5945 Wellington Road
Gainesville, VA 20155
Congressional District 10
EPA ID #: VAD023741705
Site property area: 420 acres
ARC owned and operated the Gainesville, Virginia Facility on 420 acres in Gainesville, Virginia located in a wooded, rural environment. The Facility began operations in 1951. The Facility is located approximately 35 miles west of Washington, DC, in the north central portion of Virginia The Facility is primarily a Department of Defense contractor which manufactures rocket propellant and rocket motors, tests rocket motors and gas generators, conducts laboratory research, and operates three thermal treatment processes. Degreasing solvents have been used in the Facility operations. The facility is composed of approximately 100 structures: administrative office buildings, solid rocket motor production and testing operations, research laboratories, and design technology areas. ARC ceased operations at this facility on April 15, 2005 and is undergoing closure of the facility.
RCRA Corrective Action activities at this facility are being conducted under the direction of EPA Region 3.
On July 18, 2011 UXO contractor noticed a "deteriorating red metal drum that had a whitish/blue substance oozing from it." Contractor proceeded to test material with a hand held Hazmatcad device. The device returned an "alarm positive for low level G agent at 6 inches" on two tries. The contractor evacuated the site and contacted EPA Region III RCRA personnel as well as DoD assets at Edgewood, Md. EPA Region III OSC received request for assistance from EPA Associate Director, Land and Chemicals Division on July 21, 2011.
OSC proceeded to maintain the original request for assistance from DoD for its analytical and field assessment and sampling capability out of Edgewood Arsenal, Md. DoD stated that its assets were prepared to mobilize and would respond. On 7/21 in the afternoon the OSC responded to the site and met with facility reps, contractors and the Va Division of Emergency Management (DEM). Discussions ensued regarding use of the Va Civil Support Team or Va State Haz Mat Team to perform an entry to confirm the original air monitoring results. In addition a full scale reenactment of the Civil War Battle of Bull Run was scheduled to occur commencing on 7/22 thereby bringing thousands of people into the town. This large influx of people concerned the DOI - NPS as well as the incident commander for the event.
Based on recommendations with DEM, the OSC decided to enlist the support of the state and county haz mat teams for site assessment (air monitoring) purposes. Both teams mobilized promptly to the site and performed a haz mat entry after a lengthy Health and Safety meeting as per the site HASP. Preliminaty results from the field assessment indicated no chemical warfare agents were detected. However the OSC still needed to confirm that the material was not a CWA agent, thru offsite laboratory analysis, and therefore it was necessary that DoD at Edgewood collect a sample and transport to their lab (ECBC). In the early evening hours on July 21, DoD notified the OSC that they were told to stand down and not respond. No explanation was provided. A sample of the material was then collected by DEM and hand delivered to the Division of Consolidated Labs (State Lab), Richmond, Va. on July 21, 2011. On July 22, 2011 the DEM reported to the OSC that the sample tested "NEGATIVE for Nerve, Blood, or Blister agents, verified with GCMS. The sample appears to be a mix of industrial chemicals, including PCB (small amount), strong solvents, as well as one compound that may be found in propellant / fuel."
On July 22, 2011 the OSC informed site personnel and EPA RCRA site management that no further emergency response activities were warranted. Final written results are pending.
