FLORISSANT — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is releasing more testing data it says demonstrates that radiation levels in a shuttered elementary school are safe and unrelated to uranium enrichment activities in ºüÀêÊÓƵ in the early days of the nuclear age.
, based on testing more than 1,200 soil samples and hundreds of other measurements, is the second of three reports the Corps plans to release. Two weeks ago, reaching similar conclusions about the radiological contamination in Jana Elementary School.
The report “provides additional data from our structural surveys and sampling that confirms there are no areas of radiological concern in or around the school,†Phil Moser, ºüÀêÊÓƵ District program manager for the Corps program in charge of cleaning up Coldwater Creek and other areas impacted by uranium enrichment, said in a statement.
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But the reports are too late to reverse Hazelwood School District’s decision to shutter Jana and reshuffle 400 students to five different schools. That decision was made after a contractor for plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit released a report claiming high levels of radiation in the school, causing an uproar among parents in the district.
The district’s own contractor found radiation levels no higher than background levels, though a parent group asserted it had a conflict of interest because the firm was also a federal contractor.
A Hazelwood spokeswoman said the district is aware of the new Corps report but had nothing new to add beyond a statement it released after the first Corps data was released last month.
“The Board and administration recognize that the closure of Jana Elementary and the subsequent redistricting of students and reassignment of staff to other district schools has not been an easy transition,†the school’s statement said. “However, there is no expectation that Jana Elementary will reopen, and students and staff will remain at their current schools. At the same time, we are encouraged by the resilience our Hazelwood School District community has shown throughout this season of change and uncertainty.â€
The Corps report zeros in on lead-210 — a decay product from a uranium isotope. A report authored by Marco Kaltofen, who was working as an expert for the class-action plaintiffs, claimed the lead isotope was in levels far in excess of normal background concentrations around the school.
The Corps said it couldn’t reproduce the higher concentrations Kaltofen’s report cited in interior dust samples. The highest lead concentrations cited by Kaltofen’s report were found in pavement sediment and “are consistent with background levels of radon gas decaying through to lead-210; settling on pavement; and concentrating pavement sediment at low spots,†the Corps report said.
Even so, assuming the highest levels of lead-210 in Kaltofen’s report, 46.9 picocuries per gram, the Corps said those levels fall well below regulatory guidelines: one 600-millionth of the level set by the Toxic Substances Control Act.
And the risks from everyday activities are far higher than that posed by the radiation, the Corps said. Assuming the highest concentrations are everywhere in the school (which the Corps said is far from the case), students would be 4,100 times more likely to die in a vehicle accident. Staff, which spends more time and years at the school, would be 1,700 times more likely to die in a vehicle accident. An earthquake would be three times as likely to be the cause of death for a student, and 1.3 times as likely for a staff member.