ENVIRONMENTAL PROGRAM AT KSC

Remediation Program - Welcome

As the primary launch site for the U.S. Space Program, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), has long been engaged in a wide variety of operations that are an integral part of the NASA primary mission. These operations involved the use of toxic and hazardous materials. Federal, state, and local governments have developed strict regulations that require disposers of hazardous waste to identify the locations and contents of past disposal sites and to take actions to eliminate any hazards in an environmentally responsible manner. NASA-KSC has a program to evaluate sites where contamination is present under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and its Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA). A list of current sites is found on the left navigation bar.

KSC's remediation program has its roots in two Consent Orders (no longer open) issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) in the late 1980s for KSC's oldest remediation sites, Wilson Corners (now Solid Waste Management Unit (SWMU) #1 and Ransom Road Landfill (now SWMU #3). KSC also operates a permitted Hazardous Waste Storage Facility under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). As a result, with the RCRA Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) in 1984 came the requirement to identify potential release sites and implement corrective action at those sites as warranted. The HSWA portion of KSC's RCRA permit was issued by the EPA in 1986 and was renewed in 1997. EPA since delegated corrective action authority to the FDEP and KSC's HSWA permit with FDEP was executed in 2002, and was renewed in 2008.

EPA's SWMU Assessment initially identified 16 sites for investigation under the corrective action program. Additional sites were also identified by KSC as the program was implemented. In addition to corrective action sites, KSC's remediation program office also manages petroleum contamination sites under Chapter 62-770 of the Florida Administrative Code. To date, KSC has identified and/or investigated 267 sites located on KSC or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (sites currently or previously operated by KSC). These sites are at various stages of the RCRA and Petroleum Program investigation process including No Further Action.