[CPEO-MEF] Further cleanup to start at APG

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Maryland
THE BALTIMORE SUN
Further cleanup to start at APG
Toxic Gas Yard became radioactive collection spot; 3 public meetings
scheduled; Officials to give updates on decontamination plans
By Lane Harvey Brown
Originally published July 14, 2003

Even as the Army destroys more than 1,600 tons of mustard agent
stockpiled at Aberdeen Proving Ground, it is poised to begin another
multimillion-dollar cleanup, on land contaminated by radioactive medical
and research waste.

The site, near the banks of the Bush River on the Edgewood peninsula,
was the East Coast collection point for Army radioactive medical and
research waste in the 1950s and 1960s, say APG officials. Before that,
it was home to the Toxic Gas Yard, until canisters of mustard agent and
other dangerous chemical weapons were moved to a larger storage site on
the peninsula early in World War II.

The Army is spending millions every year to clean up the toxic legacy of
APG, a premier research and testing site for the military. In Edgewood,
where the mission centered on chemical weapons, the peninsula is home to
a list of EPA priority cleanup sites that include a 1,621-ton mustard
agent stockpile, dumps of old chemical weapons, lab leftovers and
radiological waste.

APG officials will meet three times with the community this week to
update residents on two projects that have raised deep concerns in the
past: the radiological waste yard and the mustard agent stockpile.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.apg14jul14,0,6079856.story?coll=bal-local-headlines

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