EPA Cleans Up Radium Instruments For Strube

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The Department of Environmental Protection Dec. 25 formally requested that the EPA take action including “removal and remediation duties” at seven facilities that house radium dial instruments. The facilities, owned by Strube Inc. and located in Lancaster Country, Pa., had been the subject of visits and inspections by the DEP, which found Strube uncommitted to meet previously outlined cleanup deadlines. Deemed “hazardous materials,” the aged instruments that may no longer be used in aircraft must be “identified and properly disposed of” because Strube had “improperly stored” them, according to the EPA. Strube officials claim there is no public health threat. Strube’s warehouses may contain an estimated 20,000 of the instruments hidden among some 58 million aircraft components, according Strube. The instruments may have been there since the 1950s. Strube had been issued a license “to possess and dispose of” all radioactive material at its facilities and has “made progress in properly containing hazardous materials at its facilities.” The EPA judged Strube had offered no progress in the removal of radioactive materials. Strube had hired security guards and recently hired a licensed contractor to handle the cleanup of two warehouses.

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