Parkersburg Zirconium Mill Site, West Virginia

A plant was built at this location by the Carborundum Company in 1957, primarily to process Nigerian zirconium for the nuclear industry, an ore that also contains uranium. In 1968, after pyrophoric waste material (capable of exploding) began to leak from corroding storage drums onto the ground, 3,000 barrels of this waste was moved to the Atomic Energy Commission's low-level waste site at Maxey Flats, Kentucky. Experiments with oxides of zirconium continued here until 1977, when the site was sold. New owners discovered contamination from the previous operations was extensive, and a disposal cell was constructed to contain the consolidated and slightly radioactive waste material. The DOE's Legacy Management office took over ownership and responsibility of the mound in 1994.