FLORISSANT — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has discovered radioactive contamination beneath some Florissant homes, but it is not potent enough to warrant removal, the Corps said this week.
Additionally, the contamination is far enough underground it doesn’t pose a public threat, officials said.
“All the soils under the homes at Cades Cove will not need to be remediated,†Robin Parks, a lead engineer for the ºüÀêÊÓƵ District of the Corps, said in an interview on Thursday. “That’s how we say something is clean, in simple terms.â€
Starting earlier this year, the Corps bored holes through the floors and basements of a few homes on Cades Cove in Florissant to test levels of radioactivity in the soil underneath. Houses in the neighborhood are built atop an old meander of Coldwater Creek, a waterway that historically dispersed radioactive contaminants that were improperly stored or disposed of upstream — waste linked to the nation’s early development of nuclear weapons.
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But the Corps said this week that the levels of radioactivity detected beneath the homes on Cades Cove have fallen short of the agency’s threshold for action. Samples, at max, were just 40% of the threshold. Some samples showed no contaminated soil.
Residents were not uniformly assuaged by the news.
Gina McNabb, a Cades Cove resident whose yard has been tested for radioactivity, has a list of questions and concerns about the Corps’ work and findings. And she’s gripped by dilemmas and uncertainty about the best plan of action.
For example, she is nervous about disturbing the contamination that’s currently underground, if it could potentially go airborne. At the same time, she’s uncomfortable just leaving it in place.
“Now that we know it’s there, it does pose a concern,†she said, rattling off a list of headaches that would stem from keeping it there — from scaring off future buyers, to scrapping dreams for an inground pool.
Other area residents want access to medical testing.
“Where is the testing for us?†Rebecca Hutchason, a Florissant resident, asked at a Corps community meeting Wednesday. “Are we going to be tested, ourselves?â€
The Corps said it does plan to excavate soil from at least five yards in the Cades Cove neighborhood.
Officials also discussed this week work to remove radioactive contamination at other sites including recently completed efforts at the site of the now defunct Jana Elementary School in Florissant, and in areas near the northern edge of ºüÀêÊÓƵ Lambert International Airport, along parts of James S. McDonnell Boulevard.
From the bank of Coldwater Creek near Jana, for instance, the Corps removed 7,416 cubic yards of contaminated soil — enough to fill about three Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The areas near the airport have concentrations of radioactivity that are 10 to 20 times higher than typical contaminated sites along Coldwater Creek, since they are much closer to the original source of the pollution. (Uranium for the Manhattan Project and the country’s development of nuclear weapons was processed in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, and leftover contaminants from that work were improperly stored near the airport and at another creekside location.)
Contaminated soil removed from the area is sent to special disposal sites in Idaho, Utah and, recently, Michigan, said Corps officials.
Advocates and officials have been pushing for local residents to become eligible for government compensation granted to individuals exposed to radioactivity. But a bill that aims to expand the Radiation Exposure Contamination Act to include eligible Missouri residents has been stalled in the House of Representatives for months, awaiting a vote.
Col. Andy Pannier, the commander of the Corps’ ºüÀêÊÓƵ District, said local Corps employees, as area residents themselves, understand the concerns of the public.
“Our focus is, ‘Let’s get what’s here out, so there’s no further risk of exposure,’†said Pannier.
Currently, the Corps’ work to address radioactive contaminants in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area is set to stretch until 2038.
Pannier suggested it might get done sooner with additional funding.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ long history of radioactive contamination. Highlights of 10 years of Post-Dispatch coverage.
From the public announcement that Mallinckrodt Chemical Works helped refine uranium for the Manhattan Project to the present, the ºüÀêÊÓƵ has covered the issue of storing radioactive waste and subsequent contamination of Coldwater Creek, Weldon Spring and surrounding areas.
Subscribers to the digital archives can search for even older coverage at .
The federal government wants to test soil and water at a popular hiking spot in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County for radiological contamination.
Mallinckrodt Chemical Works processed uranium ore for the Manhattan Project beginning in the 1940s; radioactive waste from that production contaminated areas in north ºüÀêÊÓƵ County along the Coldwater Creek watershed and around Weldon Spring in St. Charles County.
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Corps insists Jana is safe. Lawyers claim test results reveal contamination there and at other North County sites.
The report marked the third round of testing produced this fall regarding possible radioactive contamination at the school.
“From a radiological standpoint, the school is safe,†said Col. Kevin Golinghorst at a board meeting of the Hazelwood School District.
After Thanksgiving break, the school's 375 students will be reassigned to Barrington, Brown, Coldwater, McCurdy or Walker elementaries.
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The GAO will evaluate the Defense Department’s management of the cleanup program, among other subjects, her office said.
Backers say it would ensure smaller projects that can still kick up potentially radioactive soil get the same testing and remediation from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as government and utility projects do.Â
Radioactive contamination in the area has raised safety concerns.
The cost of removing radioactive contamination, a legacy of ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ key role in the production of atomic weapons, continues to climb.Â
But a lawsuit brought against the company by Republic Services was recently dismissed.
Coldwater Creek was contaminated decades ago by nuclear waste from the production of weapons during World War II.
Mallinckrodt's predecessor, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, processed uranium at its factory in ºüÀêÊÓƵ used in the U.S. government's Manhattan Project, the World War II-era program that produced the first nuclear weapons. Hazardous residue and materials leftover from the process were disposed of at West Lake Landfill in 1966.Â
The study is a critical step toward obtaining additional resources for residents, said Kim Visintine of the group who pushed for the study.Â
Exposure to the radiological contaminants that polluted the creek could raise the risks of bone cancer, lung cancer and leukemia.
At a packed “listening session†Tuesday night, scores of community members told EPA officials that its proposal to partially remove the site's radioactive contamination is insufficient.
Col. Bryan Sizemore, ºüÀêÊÓƵ District commander for the corps, said "10,000-plus" samples have been collected from the area, as part of ongoing efforts to test along the length of the creek.Â
The meeting is the first since an additional area of contamination was identified and coincides with high-profile developments bringing attention to the area's radioactive waste.
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The proposal would affect about 90 homes in the Spanish Village subdivision in North County.
Beginning later in March, radioactively contaminated soil will be removed from residential properties in Hazelwood, near Coldwater Creek.
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The bill still must pass the U.S. House, where similar legislation has been proposed by the area's representatives.Â
Health department originally planned to design and conduct its own study of the radioactively contaminated creek
Close to 10,000 soil samples have been collected and tested from the creek, its banks and the surrounding flood plain.
The cleanup effort could take another 10 years.Â
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St. Cin and Duchesne Parks along Coldwater Creek will be cleaned up over the next four months.Â
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