Naval Weapons Station Yorktown - Cheatham Annex

Cheatham Annex is a U.S. Navy installation in York County, Virginia, near Williamsburg, and it operates as part of Naval Weapons Station Yorktown. The land has a long industrial history that began in 1916, when the DuPont company built a dynamite plant and a large powder and shell loading facility known as the Penniman Shell Loading Plant, which produced ordnance during World War I. The Navy acquired the property and commissioned Cheatham Annex in June 1943, using it to store and assemble munitions and to provide supply and logistics support to Atlantic Fleet ships. Over the following decades it supported naval supply, cargo handling, and recreational functions. Today it remains an active Navy support installation undergoing long term environmental cleanup.

Because of the early munitions manufacturing and the later Navy operations, soil and groundwater at several locations on the annex have been associated with industrial and explosive related contaminants. Investigators identified numerous separate sites and areas of concern, and the substances detected have raised concerns about potential exposure for people who lived or worked nearby.

1. Explosive compounds (TNT, RDX, HMX, and 2,4-DNT) are residues from manufacturing, loading, and handling munitions, associated mainly with the early shell loading plant and related disposal areas. These compounds have been detected in soil and groundwater at the annex, and exposure to them has been associated in some studies with effects on the nervous system, liver, and other organs, which is part of why monitoring and cleanup have focused on them.
2. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are industrial solvents and fuel related chemicals used in maintenance, degreasing, and related work. VOCs have been found in groundwater at portions of the site, and concerns about potential exposure through contaminated water are part of the reason the area is being studied and remediated.
3. Semi-volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are associated with petroleum products, asphalt, and combustion byproducts, and were linked to former storage and disposal areas. These substances can persist in soil and sediment, and their presence has prompted concerns about possible spread into adjacent surface waters used for recreational fishing.
4. PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) are oily, manufactured chemicals once widely used in electrical equipment such as transformers. At Cheatham Annex, PCBs were associated with a former transformer storage area. PCBs break down slowly and have been associated with a range of health concerns, so their presence has been a focus of environmental investigation.
5. Heavy metals such as lead are tied to munitions residues, disposal areas, and former industrial operations. Metals have been detected in soil and groundwater, and because some metals can accumulate in the environment and the body, concerns about potential long term exposure have shaped the cleanup approach.

Cheatham Annex was added to the federal Superfund National Priorities List in December 2001. Under a Federal Facilities Agreement among the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Navy, and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Navy leads the cleanup and updates a site management plan that tracks work at each operable unit and area of concern. Earlier actions, beginning in the late 1980s, included removing drums, tanks, surface debris, and thousands of cubic yards of contaminated soil, along with stabilizing a landfill cap. Investigation and remediation at the installation are ongoing.

Veterans, family members, and civilian workers who spent time at Cheatham Annex may wish to stay informed about the ongoing environmental work there. Anyone with questions about possible exposures and related health concerns is encouraged to keep records of their service and to speak with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which can provide current guidance on benefits, screenings, and care.