Tear-down crews look to ensure safety

Every aspect of the project is being done under Ohio EPA scrutiny.
By AMANDA GARRETT
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
RAVENNA -- Contractors working for the Army will begin demolishing dozens of buildings at the Ravenna Army Ammunition Plant on July 17 that once were used to make weapons.
Demolition of the 38 buildings is expected to be complete by Dec. 22, when the land will be turned over to the Ohio National Guard as a training center.
The demolition of 18 buildings each from load lines five and seven -- where munitions had been assembled --will be done by Lakeshore Engineering Services Inc. of Detroit.
Lakeshore will also demolish a chemical laboratory and temporary building.
Demolition of load lines eight and 10, which is being done by PIKA International Contractors of Stafford, Texas, has already begun.
The demolition of each line at the Ravenna Arsenal, as it is commonly called, will cost $1 million, said Irv Venger, industrial specialist at the ammunition plant.
The total cost of demolishing all the buildings and restoring the land will cost around $180 million.
The arsenal originally had 307 buildings on its 12 production lines.
Workers have already demolished 120 buildings on five lines. They are now in the process of demolishing four lines with three left to go, Venger said. The work on those should be done by the end of 2007.
Further projects
After the lines are demolished, arsenal officials will have to look into tearing down six more buildings that were used for melting and pouring metal.
Venger does not know when that demolition will begin because the arsenal doesn't have any money for the project.
The buildings being demolished were used for bomb assembly during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
The buildings were used to assemble parts of bombs, such as fuses, which contained large amounts of TNT and other explosives.
Unexploded ordnance technicians will have to go through the buildings and make sure no residue of any explosive chemicals remain.
Any remaining explosives will be blown up at a special facility at the arsenal.
So far, the demolition is proceeding smoothly, Venger said.
"Nothing has happened that we didn't expect, which is good," Venger said.
Workers are now beginning to remove asbestos from lines eight and 10, Venger said.
The asbestos being removed is nonfriable, which means it hasn't broken down into particles that can be breathed in, Venger said.
Workers also paint the asbestos to ensure that no asbestos gets into the air.
Every aspect of the project is being done under the total supervision of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Venger said.
Facility history
The arsenal officially closed in 1992, leaving behind 307 units that composed its 12 production lines.
The arsenal was established in 1940 when the Army reserved 21,418 acres for the construction of two facilities: The Ravenna Ordnance Plant near Ravenna and the Portage Ordnance Depot near Windham.
The two facilities were combined into one during World War II, when the arsenal became widely known for improving the manufacture of TNT.
The weapons-making part of the arsenal officially closed in 1992, and between 1999 and 2002 the Army transferred 19,938 acres to the National Guard.
The Army is now clearing contamination out of the remaining acres it controls under the supervision of the Ohio EPA.
Eventually the plan is to clean up the entire facility and hand it over to the National Guard to use as a training facility.
agarrett@vindy.com