Project Specifics

Geosyntec is providing environmental consulting services to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Kennedy Space Center (KSC) under an Indefinite Delivery Order/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract. The services provided are in support of KSC’s RCRA Corrective Action Program. The Orsino Storage Yard is a 3-acre facility located in the KSC industrial area. The site was used historically for the storage and staging of electrical equipment, such as transformers, cables, control panels, telephone poles, etc. , and was designated as Solid Waste Management Unit #4 at KSC. Contaminants of concern at the site included pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals in canal sediment, PCBs in soils, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater.

Geosyntec Scope of Services

Geosyntec performed the confirmation sampling and the subsequent RCRA facility investigation (RFI) to evaluate site soils, sediment, surface water, and groundwater. Geosyntec collected over 350 soil samples to delineate Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)-level PCBs in site soils up to depths of eight feet. We conducted interim measures to address PCBs in soils in four phases to remove 2,000 cubic yards of industrial waste soil and 250 cubic yards of TSCA soil.

Geosyntec worked with multiple stakeholders (KSC, U.S. EPA, Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP), and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) to garner approval of the ecological risk assessment (ERA) approach, which followed the U.S. EPA eight-step process. We conducted sediment toxicity testing and collected sediment, surface water, and fish tissue data for use in food chain modeling, and to evaluate potential effects on ecological receptors. We documented the results of the ERA in the RFI report, and the regulatory agencies concurred with the no further action recommendation for ecological issues.

Notable Accomplishments

Geosyntec submitted a monitored natural attenuation (MNA) evaluation to document the natural attenuation occurring at the site and support a long-term monitoring remedy for groundwater. In addition, Geosyntec prepared the Statement of Basis and Land Use Control Plan for the site.

This was the first site at KSC to go through U.S. EPA’s eight-step ecological process and required biota sampling. Geosyntec’s ecological risk assessment approach is regarded as the model for conducting ERAs at KSC.

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