Blockson/Olin property for sale

Radiation levels low: Constant long-term exposure is of concern

JOLIET TOWNSHIP — The closed former site of a chemical company once involved in the mining of radioactive materials for the government is on the sale block.

   A state nuclear regulatory official is keeping its eye on the site and a potential sale because recent tests have shown higher than average levels of radioactivity on parts of the 1,000-acre former Blockson Chemical Co., later Olin, near Patterson and Brandon roads, south of Joliet.

   Most of the radiation levels found at the site are not a major concern, said Richard Allen of the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety. But there could be a long-term risk depending what the site is used for and how future construction is done there, he added.

   A residential subdivision would be a bad idea, Allen said, industrial would probably be OK.

   The problem, Allen added, is though the state is watching developments on the Blockson/Olin site, there is nothing it can do to mandate what type of project does or doesn't go there. Although it's unlikely, he said, there is nothing stopping Olin from selling to a residential developer, or a residential developer building there.

   Curt Richards of Olin said the company is in discussions about selling all or part of the 1,000 acres. He said use of the site, still surrounded by fences topped with barbed wire, would be confined to industrial or commercial.

Radiation studies

   Studies done on the site focus on 33 acres of a the former production area. The rest is wooded and contains former production ponds and a gypsum waste pile. Where once several hundred people worked, Olin now keeps a crew of about 12 to maintain a water treatment plant that handles runoff from the gypsum pile.

   Otherwise, Olin shut down operations there in 1991, and all the other buildings are gone. That includes Building 55, a 100-by-175-foot building that from 1952 to 1962 was the site of uranium extraction. Some 2 million pounds of uranium was extracted during that decade for fuel for nuclear weapons the government was building and testing during the Cold War.

   Blockson, which was purchased by Olin in 1955, was one of about 200 companies nationwide to have a contract with the government for extraction of radioactive materials used for weapons. The U.S. Department of Energy late last year won a victory for former employees at such plants by lobbying Congress to pass legislation, since signed by President Clinton, that provides lifetime medical benefits to the former employees, or a $150,000 settlement to them or their survivors.

   The legislation also covers some 2,300 former workers at the University of Chicago, and later Argonne National Laboratory, where they were exposed to the dangerous radioactive material, beryllium.

   The compensation also covers workers at the former William E. Pratt Co. at Cass and Henderson in Joliet. In the 1940s, the company ground uranium rods used for nuclear fuel for the government. A test of the site done in the 1970s showed no higher-than-normal levels of radioactivity.

   A study of the Blockson/Olin site Argonne National Laboratory performed for the federal government showed some higher-than-normal levels around Building 55, which at that time was being used for some storage and/or training.

   But the levels found were not high enough to pose any problems for casual exposure, after the government uranium processing stopped in 1962, said Robert A. Wynveen, a former Lockport mayor and an Argonne scientist who was one of the team members who worked on the 1978 study.

   The only concern would be for scattering of the radioactive material if the site were somehow disturbed by renovation or demolition. Also, the wreckage would have to be sent to a secured landfill if the building were demolished, the report said.

   Richards said Olin did an environmental study on Building 55 and other properties there as it was being demolished around 1996. After months of requests by the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety, Allen received copies of the studies in December.

   For the most part, Allen said, the results look fine, and the debris was contained satisfactorily. The radiation levels, except for a few areas, are consistent with those found in a place where phosphorus, which contains uranium, was processed.

   Arjun Makhijani, president of the Maryland-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, concurred with Wynveen's assessment after reviewing a copy of the 1978 test. He also agreed with Allen's assessment that residential development should be avoided because of the potential for long-term exposure to radioactivity levels that are a little higher than normal.

Cleanup needed?

   Illinois does have a disclosure law requiring sellers to tell prospective buyers what they are in for, Allen said, but he isn't sure how far that goes.

   Allen said his department most likely still would hear about any development on the Blockson/Olin site. Most prospective buyers of former industrial or chemical properties contact them through engineering firms doing environmental assessments.

   Local officials or residents can lobby to have the site included in the federal Superfund cleanup list if they believe a development there could pose a safety hazard, Allen said. That's what's happening now in Chicago's Streatorville area where a developer wants to build on a site where a former chemical company left near-average levels of radioactivity.

   But there's nothing to get excited about yet, he said. While the state would take a close look at the Blockson/Olin site should a developer come forward, Allen said, "presently, the site is not a concern."