On Jan. 8 the EPA Region 7 “quietly” released results from its tests for radioactive material at the West Lake/Bridgeton landfill, west of Interstate 270 on St. Charles Rock Road.
The Missouri Coalition for the Environment advocacy group has been urging the EPA to be more transparent regarding the agency’s plan to build a landfill “isolation barrier,” which is intended to keep a smoldering underground fire from contacting the radioactive wastes illegally dumped at the West Lake landfill in 1973, said Ed Smith, safe energy director for the coalition.
In December 2010, an underground fire was detected in the “north quarry” of the inactive 52-acre Bridgeton Landfill – only 1,000 feet from where the wastes from 1940s atomic bomb production are buried.
The EPA conducted a Gamma Cone Penetration Test (GCPT) as part of a work plan for the isolation barrier. Smith said the coalition was disappointed that it only learned about the results on Jan. 27, when the report was posted to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources website.
The results show that the radioactive waste is “hotter” in certain areas than expected, he said.
Robert Criss, professor of Earth & planetary science at Washington University, said the results show that the contamination has been spreading and diffusing through groundwater and other mechanisms. These contaminants don’t tend to stay in the same place over long periods of time, he said. Criss believes that the contamination is widespread and the EPA has been reluctant to require testing farther away from the site.
Criss also criticized the EPA’s recent testing procedure and measurements, saying the agency should have “established background” by testing the soil away from the contaminated site.
“It’s an absurd dodge,” Criss said. “That is scientifically unacceptable.”
The test results show that the radioactive material exists in places the EPA didn’t expect, Smith said.
“The Gamma Cone Penetration Tests really show that the EPA didn’t have a great understanding of the extent of the radioactive material when it made its decision to leave it there and cap it forever,” Smith said. “It goes to show why the Army Corps of Engineers needs to be put in charge.”
For decades, the coalition has been advocating for the federal government to remove the radioactive waste, which is located in the river floodplain. Smith said the removal of the radioactive wastes is the “only guaranteed plan” to ensure the subsurface landfill fire will not hit the nuclear waste, now or in the future.
Smith said residents near the landfill should voice their concerns about breathing in odors coming from it. In the last few years, residents and environmental activists have complained about an awful odor and raised questions about health concerns. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources conducted air tests and found that the fire was letting off harmful gases. The air testing showed increased levels of benzene, a known carcinogen, and hydrogen sulfide, a neurotoxin.
In May, Attorney General Chris Koster negotiated a legal order with Republic Services, “requiring the company to take a series of steps to contain and control odorous gases at the Bridgeton Landfill, address the underground smoldering, and provide temporary relocation assistance to local residents affected by the odors,” according to the EPA.
The state’s legal order also requires Republic Services to compensate the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for its costs related to environmental sampling and monitoring.
Koster also recently demanded access to carbon monoxide data for the entire landfill to better understand the location and movement of the smoldering event at the site.
Every month the community hosts a meeting to discuss the latest landfill developments. The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20 at the Operating Engineers Union Hall, 3449 Hollenberg Dr., in Bridgeton. For more information, visit http://www.stlradwastelegacy.com/calendar-events/
Residents can report their concerns regarding landfill odors to the Department of Natural Resources at 800-361-4827 or 573-751-5401.
