Well Water Near Radford Army Ammunition Plant, Pulaski County, VA

The Radford Army Ammunition Plant, a large federal munitions and propellant manufacturing complex, physically straddles the New River between Pulaski and Montgomery counties -- and Pulaski County separately hosts the plant's New River Unit storage facility near Dublin. Documented groundwater contamination at the site makes private-well testing a genuinely specific, non-generic due-diligence question for land near either location.

This page covers what's specific to Pulaski County. For the general explanation, see the national guide.

A major federal munitions plant, physically inside Pulaski County

The Radford Army Ammunition Plant (RFAAP) is a large, currently operating U.S. Army-owned facility -- commonly reported at roughly 4,200 to 4,600 acres -- that manufactures propellants and explosives for the military, one of the country's few facilities of its kind. It sits along a bend of the New River, which physically divides the main plant into a southeastern portion in Montgomery County and a northwestern portion in Pulaski County. Pulaski County also separately hosts RFAAP's New River Unit, a storage facility located roughly 12 miles from the main plant near the town of Dublin -- itself the Pulaski County seat area. This means the plant is not simply a neighboring county's issue for Pulaski County landowners; a real, physical portion of the facility and its associated storage operations sit within Pulaski County's own borders.

A 2025 Richmond Public Interest Law Review article describes RFAAP as Virginia's largest polluter -- a characterization worth taking seriously as context for anyone evaluating land near either the main plant's Pulaski County portion or the New River Unit near Dublin.

Documented groundwater contamination, not a speculative concern

This isn't a vague or purely historical worry. Multiple sources reviewed this session document specific, named contaminants found in groundwater at the site: trichloroethylene (TCE) -- an industrial solvent and recognized human carcinogen -- has been found in groundwater beneath the plant, and perchlorate (a compound associated with propellant and explosives manufacturing that can affect thyroid function) has exceeded applicable standards on at least two occasions at one specific monitoring well (identified in sourcing as 13MW4). Separately, ProPublica's "Bombs in Our Backyards" investigation examined open-air burning of munitions waste at the site and its potential relationship to nearby air and water quality concerns, and residents have raised these concerns publicly at local government meetings in recent years.

In response to community concern, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) completed a formal health consultation, finalized January 28, 2015, specifically evaluating whether groundwater or surface-water contamination at RFAAP could be affecting drinking water in the surrounding community. Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) separately maintains an ongoing RCRA hazardous-waste corrective-action program at the site, meaning contamination monitoring and remediation here is an active, continuing regulatory process rather than a closed historical matter.

What this means before you buy land or rely on a well nearby

If you're evaluating a parcel in the northwestern portion of Pulaski County near the main RFAAP facility, or near the New River Unit storage facility close to Dublin, standard well-water testing for bacteria and nitrates is not sufficient due diligence here -- ask specifically about testing for TCE and perchlorate, and ask DEQ directly whether the parcel falls within, or downgradient of, any mapped area of known groundwater contamination or an active corrective-action monitoring zone. This is a case where the generic "get your well tested before you buy" advice needs a specific, non-generic addition: the contaminants of concern here are named and documented, so ask for them by name rather than accepting a standard well-water panel.

This page could not independently confirm this session the current specific boundary of any contamination plume relative to particular Pulaski County parcels, whether any private-well advisory currently applies specifically on the Pulaski County side of the facility (as opposed to Montgomery County, where a separate source describes perchlorate detections in two water systems), or whether the plant's own on-site drinking water has tested clean in more recent years than the 2013 sampling referenced in older reporting. Confirm current, parcel-specific status directly with DEQ and, if you want the full underlying health assessment, ATSDR's 2015 health consultation for RFAAP.

Well-Water Testing Near the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Pulaski County, Virginia

A major federal munitions plant, physically inside Pulaski County

Documented groundwater contamination, not a speculative concern

What this means before you buy land or rely on a well nearby

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