Five-Year Review of Remedial Actions at NASA Wallops Flight Facility
The purpose of the Five-Year Review is to determine if cleanup actions completed at an environmental site continue to protect human health and the environment as required by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). NASA conducts a review of ongoing cleanup actions every five years until hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants remaining at the site are below levels that allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure. NASA has completed three Five-Year Reviews for the Former Fire Training Area (Operable Unit 02) and the Waste Oil Dump (Operable Unit 03) sites.
Current Five-Year Review
Third Five-Year Review – NASA completed this Review in 2024. The Review concluded the protectiveness determination for both the FFTA and the WOD sites is Short-term Protective.
For any questions regarding the Third Five-Year Review, or NASA WFF’s Restoration Program, please contact:
Kristi Francisco
Restoration Program Manager
NASA Wallops Flight Facility
Mailstop: 250.W
Wallops Island, VA 23337
kristi.l.francisco@nasa.gov
(757) 824-6074
Previous Reviews
First Five-Year Review – NASA completed this Review in 2014. The review concluded the Waste Oil Dump (WOD) site remedy was protective and no recommendations for further evaluations were necessary. For the Former Fire Training Area (FFTA) site, the review indicated per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) may be present based on historical usage of aqueous film-forming foams in firefighting training exercises. The Review recommended NASA work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality to develop the most appropriate path forward to determine whether groundwater at the FFTA contained PFAS by December 31, 2018. The Review deferred the protectiveness of the remedy until PFAS were evaluated at the site.
Second Five-Year Review –NASA completed this Review in 2019. The Review concluded the site remedy at the WOD remains protective of human health and the environment, however for the FFTA, the Review deferred the protectiveness of the remedy until promulgated regulatory criteria were available to compare to the PFAS concentrations at the FFTA site.
Since 2016, NASA has been investigating the historical use of PFAS at Wallops and has been actively addressing the environmental effects from the use of PFAS. Up-to-date information can be found on the Wallops PFAS page.
