Giant nuclear waste dump in Armstrong County set to be dug up
The federal government will begin the long-awaited cleanup of a nuclear waste dump outside Apollo in Armstrong County.
Updated on: April 16, 2026 / 1:45 PM EDT / CBS Pittsburgh
The site in Parks Township, near Apollo, served as a dumping ground for hundreds of 55-gallon drums containing radioactive nuclear waste, one of the largest such sites in the nation.
Now, after years of protests and multi-million-dollar class action settlements, this week the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin the massive job of cleaning it up .
KDKA got an exclusive look at the painstaking, intensive and expensive process to rid the site of radioactive waste.
Stretching back to the Cold War, volatile material for the U.S. military and nuclear industry was developed and enriched in Apollo and nearby Parks Township, and the waste was stored in 55-gallon drums. Now, hundreds of the drums lie buried in 10 trenches, and experts will spend the next several years removing them and the contaminated soil.