ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, October 19, 1996 TAG: 9610210095
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: SUFFOLK
SOURCE: Associated Press
The city's Tidewater Community College campus sits atop some dirty secrets, and the Army Corps of Engineers plans to spend $600,000 to uncover them.
The campus once was part of the Nansemond Ordnance Depot, where chemical and conventional weapons were processed. The Environmental Protection Agency last year recommended that the 975-acre property go on a priority list of sites to investigate.
As part of its inquiry to determine what remains in the ground from World Wars I and II, when the depot was busiest, the corps will dig up 32 suspected waste areas. That should take about two months, said Kirk Stevens, project manager.
Stevens and other officials explained the plan Thursday to students, area residents and environmentalists. The work is to begin next week.
About 19 live pieces of ammunition have been found on the grounds of the former depot, most of them in remote areas away from the campus, said Robert Thomson, an EPA hazardous waste specialist.
The most threatening area, according to Thomson, is a beachfront just west of the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, where it appears the Army dumped spent shells, canisters and drums in a makeshift landfill.
The corps has already erected a fence around the beach, but may have to excavate it or cap it in some way, said David Muellerleile, another corps official overseeing the investigation.
LENGTH: Short : 36 linesby CNB