Was a small village
under the first Sachem of the Mohegan/Pequot people after the removal of the
warring Pequot tribe.
Uncas first used this
village (now called a fort) as a place where some of his younger warriors and
family could live and keep an eye open for their troubling neighbor Sachem
Tatobem then Sassacus and their tribe.
With each battle came
many prisoners refusing to return home so Uncas added them to his little
lookout village.
Many years later this government use eminent domain to take a large portion of this
village for a company called
United Nuclear
Corporation Naval Products Division
After the end of the
cold war this plant shut down and this polluted land became non useable for
many reasons!
The government traded
this land to a group of people that signed a piece of paper stating that they,
whoever they are, would not pursue Native American land claims, so they became
the Mohegan Indian Casino Tribe.
The rest of this
information is because after this postings become active their website may
disappear just like the hundreds of other native document did not so long ago.
UNC Navel Products Division
began fabricating reactor fuel elements in the 1950s for the Navel Nuclear
Propulsion Program at the Montville, CT facility. This facility was authorized
for the fabrication and inspection of unclad fuel components, encapsulation of
the fuel into corrosion-resistant materials, and the assemblage of these into
larger components or into reactor cores. In 1990, WNC began performing
decontamination and decommissioning activities while concurrently completing
work on existing contracts.
United Nuclear
Corp. plant in Montville, Conn., as seen Thursday, Oct. 19, 1995. The Mohegan
Indian Tribe
built a casino on the site. Trading Cove is at top left of photo.
The United
Nuclear Corporation was formed in March 1961 as a joint venture between three
existing companies: Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation, Mallinckrodt
Corporation of America, and Nuclear Development Corporation of America.
Initially, Olin became the majority stockholder and Nuclear Development
Corporation was absorbed into the new company. It began with 1,400 employees.
Work included
research and development, reactor system design, manufacture of nuclear fuel
materials, reactor and core fabrications, fuel management, cold scrap
processing, isotopes, and hot radiation energy sources.
The UNC Naval
facility was operated by Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation (April 1956 to May
31, 1961) and United Nuclear Corporation (June 8, 1961 to April 22, 1976) in
New Haven, CT. The site had been used by United Nuclear Corporation to
fabricate nuclear fuel components for the U.S. Government, was decommissioned
in 1976, and removed from NRC License No. SNM-368 on April 22, 1976. The
license was authorized by Atomic Energy Commission to use radioactive materials
for manufacturing fuel for the naval reactor program at the site. In 1974, UNC
announced the closing of the facility and transferred the inventory from the
New Haven, CT location to the Montville, CT location. Subsequently, the SNM-368
license was terminated on June 8, 1994, following the decontamination and
decommissioning of the Montville site, and the NRC released the facility for
unrestricted use.
UNC
decommissioning occurred over a three year period from 1990 - 1993 and the site
license was terminated in 1994 with no future site use restrictions. Work was
performed using in-house forces and specialized contractors. The facility was
able to be decommissioned to a state of unrestricted release and is now being
used as a gambling casino.
UNC Locations:
179 GALLIVAN
LANE
UNCASVILLE, CT
06382
67 SANDY DESERT
ROAD
Additional
information on the former UNC New Haven facility:
Site Status
Summary
The site is
located near an industrial redevelopment area and has a large one-story
building, which is currently enclosed by a chain link fence.
Construction of
the building is mainly concrete floors and block or brick walls. The building
is divided into two separate areas, which housed the chemistry laboratories and
a component assembly area.
The UNC Naval
facility was operated by Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation (April 1956 to May
31, 1961) and United Nuclear Corporation (June 8, 1961 to April 22, 1976) in
New Haven, CT. The site had been used by United Nuclear Corporation to
fabricate nuclear fuel components for the U.S. Government, was decommissioned
in 1976, and removed from NRC License No. SNM-368 on April 22, 1976. The
license was authorized by Atomic Energy Commission to use radioactive materials
for manufacturing fuel for the naval reactor program at the site. In 1974, UNC
announced the closing of the facility and transferred the inventory from the
New Haven, CT location to the Montville, CT location. Final surveys of the New
Haven facility were completed by February 1976 and the NRC performed
confirmatory surveys in March and October, 1976. On April 22, 1976, NRC amended
SNM-368 to remove the New Haven, CT facility from the license. The site was
released for unrestricted use in accordance with the existing regulations and
guidance. Subsequently, the SNM-368 license was terminated on June 8, 1994,
following the decontamination and decommissioning of the Montville site, and
the NRC released the facility for unrestricted use. In the early 1990's, the
NRC initiated a program to ensure that licenses for facilities where activities
were authorized by the AEC and/or the NRC were terminated in accordance with
the NRC's current release criteria for unrestricted use. Oak Ridge National
Laboratory (ORNL) was contracted to perform the review. As part of the ORNL
review of Terminated Licenses, NRC conducted an independent measurements
inspection in May 1996, and the NRC and ORNL conducted an additional
independent measurements inspection on September 1996. Results indicated that residual
enriched uranium exceeded 30 pCi/g in soil and sediment in several areas inside
the building and inside a connected inactive sewer system. These contaminated
areas were documented in NRC Inspection Reports, dated July 1996 and February
1997.
In June 1998,
General Electric (GE)(former owner of the UNC Naval site), agreed to
characterize and remediate the facility in accordance with Option 1 delineated
in the NRC BTP for Disposal or Onsite Storage of Thorium or Uranium Wastes from
Past Operations. The licensee submitted a Characterization Plan and
Decommissioning Plan (DP) in August 1998, which was approved by the NRC in
letter dated April 6, 1999. GE began sampling activities in 2003. Additional
documents were submitted to the NRC and were reviewed. On October 10, 2007, the
NRC published a Notice of Consideration of Approval and Acceptance of the
Decommissioning Plan for the former UNC site in the Federal Register. No
comments from members of the public were received. On July 7, 2008, the NRC
accepted the Final Status Survey Plan and the Derived Concentration Guideline
Levels (DCGLs) to decommission the site. As of October 1, 2008, the NRC is
waiting for GE to submit their decommissioning schedule, complete
implementation of the FSSP, and submit their Final Status Survey Report. The
radioactive material on-site is not readily available and the dose consequence
to the public is very low. After a review of existing contracts, the DOE
accepted financial responsibility for the site cleanup. Site radiological
activities have to be contracted through a competitive contract process that
has caused some delays. GE is not an NRC licensee and is not the current owner
of the site and therefore is not required to comply with the Decommissioning
Timeliness Rule. However, GE has agreed to undertake the remediation. The State
of Connecticut and the City of New Haven have some interest in the site, as it
is part of a redevelopment area. Recently, a member of the public has become
the site owner and has a vested interest in the property. The sewer authority
has cooperated with NRC and UNC in collection of sewer samples. UNC will need
to obtain an access agreement with the City of New Haven before additional
remediation work can be completed. On February 25 and March 10, 2009, the NRC
re-established contact with GE Corporate. GE Corporate informed the NRC that
they were in the process of securing the services of a new remediation
contractor and hope to complete decommissioning of the site in the summer or
2009. The scope of the remediation will likely involve: 1) some areas beneath a
concrete slab; 2) a trench inside a building; and 3) an abandoned sewer line.
