Radioactive Waste From Old Queens Chemical Plant To Be Cleaned By City

NEW YORK CITY — Radioactive waste from a former chemical plant nestled between Brooklyn and Queens will be cleaned up by the city as part of a $1.6 million settlement, officials said.

The deal unveiled Monday requires the city to not only remediate radioactive pollution at the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company Superfund Site, but also pay the Environmental Protection Agency for its previously done work, said Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney.

“This action protects New York City residents and communities from exposure to hazardous substances including radioactive waste at the Wolff-Alport Site,” Peace said in a statement.

The Wolff-Alport chemical plant was open in Ridgewood, near the neighborhood's border with Bushwick, from the 1920s until 1954.

The plant imported and processed monazite sand — which contains up to 8 percent thorium, a radioactive substance — to extract rare earth metals, officials said.

"Until 1947, the Wolff-Alport Chemical Company dumped the thorium waste in the sewer and possibly buried the waste on the property," the EPA's website on the location states.

EPA testing has found contamination still exists at the site, which has radiation levels above the city's typical background levels, according to the agency.

A deli, several auto repair shops, office space and apartments all currently sit on the 0.75-acre Superfund site from 1125 to 1139 Irving Ave. and 1514 Cooper Ave.

Tenants and property owners in those buildings, however, still have not moved, despite EPA officials' efforts to get them to relocate, records show. The buildings will need to be demolished to clean up any radiological contamination, according to the EPA.