Superfund Record of Decision (EPA Region 2): GE Wiring Devices, Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico (First Remedial Action), September 1988

摘要

The GE Wiring Devices site is located in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico. The General Electric Company (G.E.) owns and operates a five-acre wiring devices plant at this site, which assembled silent mercury switches from 1957 until 1969. Approximately half a ton of mercury was discarded along with 4,000 cu yds of defective switch parts and plastic scraps in an onsite waste-fill area about 1 acre in area and 1 to 4 feet deep. Ground water in the area is used as a source of drinking water with a public supply well located approximately 1,500 feet west of the waste-fill area. Evidence indicates that contamination of the water table is occurring due to the migration of perch water through the clay layer that exists beneath the waste-fill area. Approximately 1,500 cu yds of near-surface soil south and downgradient of the waste-fill area has been contaminated by mercury as a result of previous surface runoff from the plant area. The selected remedial action for this site includes: onsite hydrometallurgical treatment of the waste-fill materials, perched water, and contaminated near-surface soil with disposal of the treatment residue in the former waste-fill area, followed by covering with a clean soil cover, and onsite treatment of the process leaching agent.