"Along with the Feasibility Study, a Proposed Plan, which presents the Corps of Engineers' preferred remedy for the [Tonawanda, NY] Landfill, will be released in the spring of this year," Sanders told Sputnik Tuesday.
Public and stakeholder comments on the Proposed Plan will be considered during the selection of the final remedy, which will be formalized in a record of decision for the site in 2016.
The USACE responds to US Senator Charles Schumer's demands to eliminate the decades-old nuclear waste sitting beneath the Tonawanda landfill, which experts believe could be harmful to local residents.
Buffalo District Commander Lt. Col. Karl D. Jansen told Sputnik that the USACE appreciates Senator Schumer's interest and focus.
"We [USACE] are committed, within the limits of our authority and funding, to work towards a solution that is protective of human health and the environment, technically sound, environmentally sustainable and economically justified," Jansen said.
The waste remaining at Tonawanda is mostly uranium left over from the Manhattan Project, a WWII-era initiative to develop America's first atomic bomb.
Even though radioactive waste was dumped at the Tonawanda Landfill over many years, it was not discovered until the early 1990s, when the Department of Energy conducted a radiological survey.
