Lake Ontario Ordnance Works (Site)

 arsenal / weapon and ammunition storage, Second World War 1939-1945, former- dont use this category

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Authorized in 1941 by the US Federal Government, the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works (LOOW) came into being after the purchase of a 7,500 acre tract of land in Niagara County by the Department of Defense for the purpose of mass-producing trinitrotoluene (TNT) for use by America and her Allies in the Second World War.

By the time construction completed in early 1942 the LOOW consisted of a power plant, hospital, fire department, water supply system, waste treatment system and rail network which supported production and storage areas. Occupying only 2,500 acres of the available land, the initial LOOW facilities were intended to be the first of several large-scale weapons manufacturing and storage sites on the property, however changing US Army requirements saw little interest in further construction or heavy use of the site. Engaged in full-scale TNT production for just nine months, the LOOW TNT plant was eventually declared surplus and formally decommissioned in 1943.

Utilized primarily for storage and training during the remainder of the Second World War, the LOOW's former TNT production and storage facilities became home to a large stockpile of chemical weapons and, starting in February 1944, byproducts from Uranium ore refining being carried out in Tonawanda in support of the Manhattan Project.

Finding the site to be well-suited to the storage of low-level radioactive materials and refinement waste products, the Manhattan Engineering District purchased a large portion of the LOOW and began construction of the Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS) shortly before the end of hostilities. Postwar, while the majority of remaining LOOW land was being declared excess and transferred to General Service Administration for resale, the Manhattan Engineering District and Department of Energy continued to utilize their storage facilities until 1952 when all shipments to the site ceased.

Following initial remediation and containment efforts as part of the DOE's departure from the site, the NFSS remained idle until 1982 when a full site, soil and facility remediation was carried out by the US Department of Energy. Declared successful in 1986 following the consolidation of approximately 240,000 cubic yards of residues and wastes to a single containment area, control of the NFSS was transferred to the US Army Corps of Engineers who continue to maintain and monitor the site.

www.lrb.usace.army.mil/derpfuds/loow/index.htm