LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $249 million contract to remediate the former Simonds Steel mill in Lockport. The Manhattan Project contributor has sat abandoned since the 1990s.
For decades, people have driven down Ohio Street only to see the shell of what was once an important Niagara County steel mill. Most recently, it was Guterl Steel Co.; before that, Simonds Saw and Steel Co.
Demolishing the 70-acre property hasn’t been safe because of its former work beyond the steel industry, in nuclear materials.
“During the Simonds Steel days, it was a specialized steel manufacturing plant. They rolled uranium and thorium for the Manhattan Project in the 1940s and 50s,” U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) senior project manager Gabriel Schmidbauer said. “There’s not a lot of history about it, because it was a very top-secret program back in the day.”
The USACE’s Buffalo District has maintained the safety of the site since 2001, when it was added to the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). FUSRAP is the federal initiative to identify, investigate and clean up or control sites contaminated by the nation's early atomic energy program.
According to the USACE, the site’s radiation contaminants do not pose an immediate threat to nearby neighbors, workers or the Erie Canal. However, it’s moving forward with remediation to prevent any potential long-term impacts.
“This needs to be done in order to clean up the soil, which ultimately impacts groundwater,” Schmidbauer said. “Groundwater is not moving off-site. It’s not a threat to any of the surrounding area, but it’s still good to remove contamination from this community.”
SA Environmental Services II has been contracted to complete the work.
Schmidbauer tells me he plans work to begin in the summer of 2027, and it will take about ten years to fully complete remediation.
“The first phase is removing the soil on the ATI property,” Schmidbauer said. “Then, we’re going to dismantle the building behind me in a very strategic and slow process. After that, we’re going to do groundwater remediation.”
WATCH: 'They rolled uranium': Abandoned Simonds Steel mill in Lockport set for $249M remediation
Once the work plans are approved, there will be a public meeting to give neighbors more details. That meeting has not yet been scheduled.
Once cleanup is completed around 2037, the USACE said that the site is expected to be suitable for industrial use.
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