Ohio Uranium plant shut in 1989; $4.4 bn cleanup transformed site into green preserve

Before and after photo of the Fernald Site cleanup For nearly four decades, a site in Ohio was part of the United States’ nuclear weapons production programme. Today, the same land has been turned into the Fernald Preserve, with wetlands, prairies, forests, walking trails and a Visitors Center that tells the story of its past.According to US Energy department, its Fernald property, located northwest of Cincinnati, once housed the Feed Materials Production Center. The facility produced high-grade uranium metal products and served as the first link in America’s nuclear weapons production cycle. Uranium production at the site ended in 1989, after which its mission changed from production to environmental cleanup.What followed was a massive effort to remove radioactive and other contaminated material from the site. The cleanup cost $4.4 billion and involved work such as sampling, analysing contamination, demolishing buildings, removing waste and treating contaminated groundwater. The project covered the 1,050-acre site and was carried out with the involvement of government agencies, regulators and the local community.The cleanup was completed in 2006. At the time, it was described as o...