Lake Ontario Ordnance Works
Military installation in Niagara County, New York / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The former Lake Ontario Ordnance Works (LOOW) was a 7,500-acre (3,000 ha) military installation located in Niagara County, New York, United States, approximately 9.6 mi (15.4 km) north of Niagara Falls.
Lake Ontario Ordnance Works | |
---|---|
Youngstown, New York in United States | |
Coordinates | 43°13′39″N 78°58′35″W |
Height | 315 feet (96 m) |
Site information | |
Owner | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
Site history | |
Built | 1941 (1941) |
Built by | United States Department of War |
In use | 1941 (1941)–1948 (1948) |
Events | World War II, Cold War, Manhattan Project |
Geographic Names Information System[1] |
The property was purchased by the War Department during World War II as a location for the production of TNT. Most of the LOOW property was sold after the war.
The United States Department of Energy currently owns 191 acres (77 ha) of the original LOOW property, on which the Niagara Falls Storage Site (NFSS) is located. The NFSS is used for the storage of radioactive materials produced during the development of America's first atom bombs.[2]
Approximately 93 percent of the original LOOW site—currently occupied by homes, a school, a campground, the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima, farms, local and federal government operations, and a toxic waste facility—meets the criteria of a Formerly Used Defense Site,[3][4] and one portion of the property is listed as a Superfund cleanup site.[5]