The company can either rely on the army, as it did for the first clean-up, or be designated one of the country's worst contamination sites and become eligible for the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund. The situation is complicated by the resistance of some Concord residents to having a local property designated a Superfund site. They're proud of Concord's history and culture, and they want to protect its image as an affluent residential area. Superfund designation would ruin its image and decrease property values. Roberson and Pyatt have explained the state's position at town meetings and other local gatherings.
Nothing is more dangerous than leaving toxic pollutants in the environment.
However, there were no substantial regulations until 1985. Starmet was basically on its own. Roberson's explanation reminded me of the criticality accident in September 1999 at JCO's nuclear fuel processing facility in Tokai Mura, Ibaraki Prefecture. The failure of Japan's Science and Technology Agency to apprehend that facility's neglect of proper procedures was similar to the NRC's indulgence of Starmet. The Department of Environmental Protection first began to investigate Starmet in 1985.