Painesville Locality Map

Painesville (FUSRAP Site)

The Painesville Site is located in Painesville, Ohio, approximately 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Cleveland. Painesville had an operational magnesium production facility on the grounds, operated by the Diamond Magnesium Company in the 1940s. In the 1950s the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), a predecessor agency to the US Department of Energy, shipped radioactively contaminated scrap steel to the Painesville site for use in their magnesium production processes. Residual radiation from the scraps contaminated the soil at the site with uranium, radium and thorium. The site was part of the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). The FUSRAP Program was transferred to the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in 1997, in accordance with the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act for FY 1998. Cleanup responsibilities transferred at the time from DOE-EM to the USACE.