Texas Instruments agrees to pay $15 million to the U.S. government to help clean up the Shpack landfill superfund site in Massachusetts

By Sheryl Jean

Texas Instruments Inc. has agreed to pay $15 million to the federal government to cover part of the cost of cleaning up radioactive contaminants at the Shpack landfill superfund site in Massachusetts.

The Dallas-based chipmaker did not acknowledge any liability for nuclear material found at Shpack as part of a lawsuit settlement filed last week in U.S. District Court in Boston.

“Although TI vigorously disputes the United States’ claim … TI would prefer to focus its resources on manufacturing semiconductors for a wide variety of electronics applications, rather than litigate against the U.S. government for what likely would have been several years,” said TI spokeswoman Whitney Jodry.

TI and a predecessor company (Metals and Controls Inc.) worked with radioactive materials in nuclear fuel operations under contracts with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission at the site on the border of Attleboro and Norton from the 1950s through 1981, according to the lawsuit. 

In 2009, TI and 10 other “potentially responsible parties” signed a consent decree with the U.S. government to address chemical contamination at the site, but later that same year, TI filed a complaint alleging that liability for disposal of radioactive materials relating to its AEC work is subject to indemnity by the U.S. Department of Energy. That case will be dismissed as a result of the consent decree.

A survey by the U.S. Energy Department found radioactive contaminants, primarily radium and uranium, on the site, according to the suit. Court documents also said Radium-226, which is used to make thermostats and circuit breakers, was found.

The U.S. Justice Department filed suit against TI on behalf of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which will receive the $15 million