![]() Releases from the Fernald site to the surrounding area resulted in exposure to community residents included ionizing radiation, soluble and insoluble forms of uranium, and various other hazardous chemicals. Workers at the site were represented by the Fernald Atomic Trades and Labor Council. Refining uranium metal was a process requiring a series of chemical and metallurgical conversions that occurred in nine specialized plants at the site. Annual production rates ranged from a high in 1960 of 10,000 metric tons to a low in 1975 of 1,230 metric tons. From 1951 to 1989 Fernald converted uranium ore into metal, and then fabricated this metal into target elements for nuclear reactors. In addition, the site was close to Cincinnati's large labor force, the landscape was level making the site's construction easy, it was isolated, which provided safety and security, and it was located 30 to 50 feet above a large water aquifer, which supplied the water needed for uranium metal processing. ![]() This location was chosen because it was between the uranium ore delivery ports of New York and New Orleans, and it was accessible to the other main AEC sites. The plant was located in the rural town of Fernald, which is about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Cincinnati, Ohio, and occupies 1,050 acres (425 hectares). The FMPC also served as the country's central repository for another radioactive metal, thorium. The uranium metal produced was in the form of derbies, ingots, billets and fuel cores. These nuclear reactors were located at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the Savannah River Site in South Carolina and at Hanford in the state of Washington. Department of Energy, established "a large scale integrated facility for the production of fabricated uranium fuel cores by chemical and metallurgical techniques." The plant was known as the Feed Materials Production Center since the uranium fuel cores it produced were the 'feed' for the AEC's plutonium production reactors. In 1948 the Atomic Energy Commission, predecessor to the U.S. News about the plant's operations led to the 1989 closure of nearby Fort Scott Camp, then the oldest Roman Catholic summer camp in the country. During that time, the plant produced 170,000 metric tons uranium (MTU) of metal products and 35,000 MTU of intermediate compounds, such as uranium trioxide and uranium tetrafluoride.įernald came under criticism in 1984 when it was learned that the plant was releasing millions of pounds of uranium dust into the atmosphere, causing major radioactive contamination of the surrounding areas. ![]() nuclear weapons production complex from 1951 to 1989. It was a uranium processing facility located near the rural town of New Baltimore, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Cincinnati, which fabricated uranium fuel cores for the U.S. The Fernald Feed Materials Production Center (commonly referred to simply as Fernald or later NLO) is a Superfund site located within Crosby Township in Hamilton County, Ohio, as well as Ross Township in Butler County, Ohio. Aerial view of the Fernald Feed Materials Production Center. ![]()
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