Nebraska power plant demolition scheduled

Demolition activity at a former power plant in Norfolk, Neb., that is now a United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site has been scheduled to begin in late January 2014. The demolition project will cost an estimated $2.835 million.

According to an EPA news release, activity at the former Iowa-Nebraska Light & Power gas plant site began on Jan. 20, 2014. The project will consist of building demolition, soil excavation and backfilling operations.

The EPA classifies the Superfund activity as a “removal action” that will entail structural demolition and the excavation of contaminated soils to a depth of 10 feet below ground surface. After soil sampling is conducted on the walls and floor of the excavated areas, if the sampling results show contamination above the cleanup goals, excavation will continue until the concentrations are below the cleanup goals or until groundwater is encountered, according to the EPA.

Following the soil excavation, groundwater monitoring will continue until the EPA determines that the removal action objective is complete. Contamination at the site includes coal-tar-contaminated materials including benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes (BTEX), poly-nuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and unwelcome metals.