radiological · Erie County
Bliss & Laughlin Steel
Buffalo
Steel facility where uranium rods were machined and straightened in 1952 for an Atomic Energy Commission contractor; the affected area was remediated under FUSRAP.
The documented story
What happened here?
For two months in 1952, an ordinary steel-finishing plant became a small link in the federal uranium-production chain. At 110 Hopkins Street, Bliss & Laughlin Steel machined and straightened uranium rods for National Lead of Ohio, an Atomic Energy Commission prime contractor. The work appears to have taken place on Saturday shifts inside a 3,230-square-foot Special Finishing Area—only a fraction of the plant's roughly 129,600-square-foot building.
Machining produced uranium turnings that records trace through the Lake Ontario Ordnance Works on their way back to Fernald. Decades later, federal surveys found natural uranium on the finishing-area floor, overhead trusses, trenches, and finishing pit. That tightly defined footprint—not the entire steel property—became the Buffalo FUSRAP site and was decontaminated between December 1998 and March 1999.
One steel shop briefly entered the federal uranium supply chain
Bliss & Laughlin machined and straightened uranium rods in 1952
1952documented year of uranium-rod work
Steelmaking era
A conventional metals plant supplied specialized federal work
Bliss & Laughlin's broader identity was steel production. For a short period, workers used plant equipment to machine and straighten uranium rods for a federal contractor during the early Atomic Energy Commission era.
FUSRAP investigation
Historical records narrowed the search to affected work areas
The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program reconstructed the 1952 activity and surveyed the property for residual radioactive material tied to that contract.
Remediation and legacy care
The federal program addressed the defined radiological footprint
Affected material was remediated and the site received federal certification. The Department of Energy retains the historical and long-term stewardship record for the Buffalo site.
Early Atomic Energy Commission: uranium-rod machining and straightening
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
Federal crews decontaminate the former finishing area
USACE cleaned the limited area where uranium work occurred and final surveys supported unrestricted release, with no institutional controls or on-site monitoring required.
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Legacy Management ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Chronology
Timeline
- September–October 1952
Workers machined and straightened uranium rods, apparently during Saturday shifts.
- November 1952
Records document 53 drums of uranium turnings shipped from the ordnance works to Fernald.
- 1992–1998
DOE found the site eligible for FUSRAP, characterization followed, and USACE selected building decontamination.
- December 1998–March 1999
USACE decontaminated the affected building area and documented closure for unrestricted use.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- Natural uranium contamination was found primarily in the former Special Finishing Area.
- Machining generated uranium turnings that were collected and shipped back into the federal materials system.
- The affected work area represented only a small portion of the full industrial building and grounds.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- USACE decontaminated the concrete floor, overhead trusses, trenches, and finishing pit, then scanned surfaces and sampled soil under a formal final-status survey.
- The cleanup standard limited surface activity to 2,000 disintegrations per minute per 100 square centimeters and uranium-238 in soil to 100 picocuries per gram. DOE's certification summary reports that every survey unit met the release criteria.
- The site was released for unrestricted use. No institutional controls, supplemental limits, or on-site radiological monitoring are required; DOE Legacy Management's remaining role is preserving records and answering stakeholder questions.
Then and now
The site today
The Buffalo site is a completed FUSRAP cleanup, not an uncontrolled active radiological site. Its history still matters because workers handled uranium here and later cleanup workers returned to contaminated surfaces decades after the original job. NIOSH evaluated worker petitions under the federal energy-employees compensation program, but the reviewed employee classes were not added to the Special Exposure Cohort; that administrative finding should not be rewritten as proof either of illness or of no exposure.
Radiological-map connection
Place this site in the wider material history
The separate radiological investigation map distinguishes producers, processors, storage, the 100 historical survey records, federal remediation, and current assessment coverage.
Linked research mapOpen the radiological investigation →