Apollo Pennsylvania and later the Parks Township plant were home to a commercial fuel fabrication plant that manufactured plutonium fuel rod elements for the Fast Flux Test Facility reactor at Hanford. Originally owned by NUMEC, the plants were later operated by the Atlantic Richfield Co., and finally Babcock & Wilcox.

In the mid 1960s, the Wall Street Journal reported that the total material accounted for (MUF) exceeded 600 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU). This was thought to be the source HEU for a clandestine weapons program undertaken by Israel. The highly classified studies of this diversion formed the basis of the materials accountability programs throughout the US, both in defense programs and in the commercial power program.

Beginning in 1994 cases have been filed in federal court alleging that radioactive emissions from the Apollo and Parks Township plants caused illness, death and property damage. Residents of the area claim that they inhaled radioactive dust for three decades and that particles of uranium from the plant caused an unusually high cancer rate. While testifying in court a doctor reported that 351 of Apollo's 1,895 residents,(about one in five) had been diagnosed with some form of cancer. The Babcock & Wilcox collectively has made payments totaling more than $80 million to about 365 claimants over the course of the 14-year lawsuit.

References

http://198.246.98.21/niosh/ocas/pdfs/tbd/numec-r1-p1.pdf http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/facilities/us-nuclear-weapons-facilites-closed.htm http://www.shonka.com/experience/professional-services-group/dose-reconstruction/apollo-plant/ http://www.wise-uranium.org/edusa.html#NUMECAPOLLO http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/s_622294.html