KSC-00pp0103

On top of the block house at Launch Complex 34, representatives from environmental and Federal agencies hear from Laymon Gray, with Florida State University, about the environmental research project that involves the Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and NASA in a groundwater cleanup effort. Concentrations of trichloroethylene solvent have been identified in the soil at the complex as a result of cleaning methods for rocket parts during the Apollo Program, which used the complex, in the 60s. The group formed the Interagency NDAPL Consortium (IDC) to study three contamination cleanup technologies: Six Phase Soil Heating, Steam Injection and In Situ Oxidation with Potassium Permanganate. All three methods may offer a way to remove the contaminants in months instead of decades. In the background (left) can be seen the cement platform and walkway from the block house to the pad. Beyond it is the Atlantic Ocean. KSC hosted a two-day conference that presented information and demonstrations of the three technologies being tested at the site