FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1995                            (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

               U.S. ANNOUNCES SUPERFUND SETTLEMENT

 $60 MILLION CLEANUP AND REMEDY FOR RADIOACTIVE KENTUCKY LANDFILL


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency announced today a settlement to
clean up and to prevent further pollution at a heavily
contaminated radioactive landfill in Fleming County, Kentucky,
located midway between Lexington and Huntington, West Virginia. 
The agreement, with nearly 400 private and government parties, is
estimated at $60 million.  

     Approximately 4.75 million cubic feet of low-level
radioactive waste is buried at the Maxey Flats landfill, which
operated from 1963 to 1977.  The waste was generated and shipped
to the site by more than 600 individuals, federal and state
agencies, universities, and private companies.  During this
period, water seeped into the burial trenches.  Kentucky, the
landfill's owner, closed the site in 1977 after studies showed
that radioactive water had leaked from the trenches to other
areas of the site.    

     As an interim measure, from 1973 through 1986, Kentucky
pumped out some 6 million gallons of low-level radioactive water,
storing left over concentrates in above-ground tanks.  The EPA
removed these concentrates in 1989, solidified and reburied them. 
     "Today's agreement ensures permanent protection for
Kentuckians from the radioactive waste at Maxey Flats," said Lois
J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the
Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.  "An
extraordinary union of federal, state and private parties has
made this possible."

     The consent decrees, filed today in U.S. District Court in
Covington, resolve the United States' claims for cleanup of the
site under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation
and Liability Act, commonly called Superfund.  All settling
parties sent radioactive waste to the landfill for burial.

                              -MORE-
     Under one decree, 43 companies will remove approximately 3
million remaining gallons of water from waste burial trenches and
install an interim cap.  This cap will prevent more water from
accumulating.  Six federal agencies will pay for a majority of
this work, estimated to cost $45 million by the Environmental
Protection Agency.  The federal agencies are the Army, Air Force,
Department of Energy, Navy, NASA, and the National Institutes of
Health.  

     The Commonwealth of Kentucky is acquiring adjacent
properties to create a buffer zone for the site.  Kentucky will
also maintain the interim cap and eventually build a final cap to
prevent water from entering the trenches permanently.  The EPA
will oversee the cleanup and maintenance work.  The private
parties and federal agencies agreed to pay $5 million of EPA's
past response costs.  In a second consent decree, state, federal,
and private parties agreed to pay $8.5 million toward the cleanup
and for past response costs.


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