ST. LOUIS 鈥 The federal government and companies responsible for nuclear bomb production and atomic waste storage sites in the 狐狸视频 area in the mid-20th century were aware of health risks, spills, improperly stored contaminants and other problems but often ignored them, according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Decades later, even with much of the cleanup complete, the aftereffects haunt the region. Federal health investigators have found an increased cancer risk for some people who, as children, played in a creek contaminated with uranium waste. A grade school closed last year amid radiation concerns. A landfill operator is spending millions to keep underground smoldering from reaching nuclear waste illegally dumped in the 1970s.
The AP examined hundreds of pages of internal memos, inspection reports and other items dating to the early 1950s, and found nonchalance and indifference to the risks of materials used in the development of nuclear weapons during and after World War II.
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This story is part of an ongoing collaboration between , the nonprofit newsroom and The Associated Press. were obtained by outside researchers through the Freedom of Information Act and shared with the news organizations.
Consider a 1966 government inspection report on a site in 狐狸视频 County, which noted that 鈥渋n a number of places along the roadway鈥 material that later tested positive for radioactivity 鈥渁ppeared to have fallen from vehicles.鈥
A follow-up inspection three months later found the material was still sitting on the road. The company, Continental Mining and Milling Co., said it was having trouble with the contractor 鈥 a lone man who used a shovel and broom to pick up the atomic waste and put it in a pickup truck.
The company was not penalized.
The AP review didn鈥檛 uncover evidence of criminal wrongdoing. What it did find were repeated instances where companies, contractors or the government could have addressed significant problems but didn鈥檛.
Dawn Chapman of the activist group Just Moms STL 鈥 a group pushing for cleanup and federal buyouts in an area near the airport 鈥 said the region 鈥渟aved our country鈥 with its work on the nuclear program but paid a terrible cost.
鈥淲e are a national sacrifice zone,鈥 she said.
狐狸视频鈥 historic role
狐狸视频 was part of a geographically scattered national effort to build a nuclear bomb that was tested in New Mexico. Much of the work in the 狐狸视频 area involved uranium, where Mallinckrodt Chemical Co. was a major processor of the element into a concentrated form that could be further refined elsewhere into the material that made it into weapons.
鈥淭his is an enterprise of heavy industry,鈥 said Gwendolyn Verhoff, a historian at 狐狸视频 Community College.
Just months after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Mallinckrodt began processing uranium near downtown. In 1946, the government bought land near the airport and began trucking nuclear waste from the Mallinckrodt facility.
The Missouri Independent, which collaborated with The Associated Press on this coverage, cited that showed the company was storing highly radioactive residue called K-65 in deteriorating steel drums at the airport site near Coldwater Creek. The material was so dangerous, the memo said, that Mallinckrodt couldn鈥檛 simply put it in new containers because the danger it posed to workers. 鈥淭he health hazard to workers handling K-65 material, especially in broken drums, is much more serious and immediate than the possible hazard of stream pollution, especially since the radium in the K-65 is in a highly insoluble form,鈥 according to the memo.
Meanwhile, starting in 1941, the government began making explosives at a new plant in Weldon Spring. Production there ended in 1945, but not before soil, sediments and some springs were contaminated.
In 1957, the Atomic Energy Commission opened a plant in Weldon Spring and Mallinckrodt moved its uranium processing there. Radioactive waste contaminated the area, including a large quarry that eventually became a Superfund cleanup site in 1987. The rest of the Weldon Spring site was added two years later.
Alison Carrick, co-director of 鈥淭he First Secret City,鈥 a documentary about the region鈥檚 nuclear history, said after the war some companies thought that byproducts of the radioactive material could be sold.
But that didn鈥檛 work. So the waste moved to new sites, contaminating more land, near more people.
In 1966, the Atomic Energy Commission demolished and buried buildings at the airport site. Continental Mining and Milling Co. moved the waste to 9200 Latty Avenue in nearby Bridgeton, piling it in a heap, the commission said at the time. Radioactive barrels lay outside the fence. Storage was so haphazard that even the path to the site was contaminated by trucks that spread waste on their hauls from 1966 to 1969.
Tons of that nuclear waste flowed into Coldwater Creek, contaminating the often-flooding waterway and adjacent yards for 14 miles, state and federal investigators determined.
In 1973, the uranium processor Cotter Corp. took hazardous leached barium sulfate from Latty Avenue to the West Lake Landfill, also in Bridgeton. The material contained uranium residue.
The government cleanup of Weldon Spring is complete, but the site is considered permanently damaged and will require oversight into perpetuity. Rather than remove the waste, the government built a 75-foot-tall mound, covered in rock, to serve as a permanent disposal cell for much of the waste. The government said the site is safe, but some local residents still worry. About 5,300 people live in Weldon Spring, but tens of thousands more live within a few miles in neighboring O鈥橣allon.
Federal officials plan to remove some of the waste at West Lake Landfill and cap the rest. Cleanup of Coldwater Creek is far along, but isn鈥檛 expected to finish until 2038. Cleanup efforts have cost taxpayers more than $1 billion, and millions more will be needed to finish the job.
The AEC, historically responsible for the nation鈥檚 nuclear weapons program, was abolished in the 1970s, in no small part because of public criticism of its handling of nuclear safety. The Department of Energy is now responsible for overseeing the country鈥檚 nuclear weapons and waste. The department has publicly detailed the environmental damage earlier waste mismanagement caused to people and the environment. Now, the Army Corps of Engineers handles cleanup at several former nuclear program sites, including in 狐狸视频.
Army Corps spokesman George Stringham said cleanup is their focus.
鈥淭he historic storing, hauling, and transportation methods have contributed significantly to the challenges we face today,鈥 he said.
Phone and email messages seeking comment from Mallinckrodt and General Atomics, which acquired Cotter Corp. in 2000, were not immediately returned. Continental Mining and Milling Co. no longer exists.
Ignoring the environment
In America鈥檚 push for nuclear dominance after World War II, across the 狐狸视频 region, when harmful waste was dumped, officials were indifferent to the hazards posed by materials that were so vital for the nuclear program.
The focus was on speed and secrecy. The environment was secondary.
Take a March 17, 1953, memo from Merril Eisenbud, health and safety division director for the Atomic Energy Commission, concerning a barium cake spill that left a half-mile of road, its shoulder and part of a corn field with nuclear contamination. Eisenbud wrote that in his opinion 鈥渘o emergency existed.鈥
鈥淎 decision as to what action to take will undoubtedly involve a balance between costs, potential risks, public relations aspects,鈥 Eisenbud said.
In a May 27, 1966, memo from a senior radiation specialist for the Atomic Energy Commission, it was noted that at Continental, an inspector found a pile of uranium material 30 feet wide, 100 feet long and nearly 8 feet high that was not in a secure area behind fencing and a locked gate, as the contract required. About 100 barrels of 鈥渕iscellaneous residues鈥 also were found outside the fenced area.
An on-site manager said he was unfamiliar with the storage requirements, the inspector wrote. When he turned to the company鈥檚 vice president in Chicago, he got nowhere.
The vice president 鈥渋mmediately submitted that most of what the inspector was talking about was not understood,鈥 the memo stated. 鈥淗e went on to explain that he had taken over as Executive Vice President of CMM as a protection of the money invested by a number of individuals.鈥
Continental was not penalized.
It wasn鈥檛 just in 狐狸视频. At the arid Los Alamos site in New Mexico where weapons were developed, for example, waste was thrown into nearby canyons.
Handling waste 鈥渨as shielded from any greater public oversight or attention,鈥 Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told AP. Environmental standards at the time were looser and the program鈥檚 secrecy allowed bad practices to continue for too long, he said.
Workers received some protection but health risks were in some cases ignored or written off.
Another 1966 report noted that Continental used the Nuclear Consultant Corp.鈥檚 field badge service to track radiation exposure among workers. The report found radiation levels so high for some workers that some at the company doubted the results.
鈥淭hey did not see how people could be getting that much exposure,鈥 it stated.
The memo showed no evidence that any action was taken.
Worker harm and advocacy
Efforts to force cleanup have been led largely by women who wouldn鈥檛 take no for an answer.
Denise Brock鈥檚 father worked for years at Mallinckrodt. When he had cancer when she was young, she would sometimes stay home from school to help care for him. He died in 1978.
When Brock learned in 2001 that former Mallinckrodt workers with certain types of cancer were eligible for federal compensation, her effort to help her mother get payment grew into an activist role. In 2003, she founded the United Nuclear Weapons Workers in her home, and worked with others to convince federal lawmakers to make it easier for thousands of former workers to get compensation for their illnesses.
Brock鈥檚 prodding led the government to begin offering up to $400,000 to those who worked at nuclear facilities across the country who developed certain cancers, or their survivors. Over the past two decades, the government has paid out $23 billion.
Present-day fear
While nuclear workers had direct exposure, people who live near contamination sites worry about uncertainty. Many who grew up in the area weren鈥檛 told about the risks for decades.
In 2007, Chapman and Karen Nickel were so concerned about cancer and other unusual illnesses in their 狐狸视频 County neighborhoods that they formed Just Moms STL.
In 2019, the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry issued a report that found people who regularly played in Coldwater Creek as children from the 1960s to the 1990s may have a slight increased risk of bone cancer, lung cancer and leukemia. The agency determined that those exposed daily to the creek starting in the 2000s, when cleanup began, could have a small increased risk of lung cancer.
Some experts are skeptical. Tim Jorgensen, a professor of radiation medicine at Georgetown University, said the biggest risk factor for cancer is age and local radiation鈥檚 contribution would be so low as to be hard to detect, he said.
鈥淭he public also tends to overestimate the risk of radiation-induced cancer,鈥 Jorgensen said.
The government鈥檚 sloppy handling of nuclear contamination over decades has understandably made people doubt official promises that conditions are safe now, said Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear expert and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.
鈥淭here is zero trust,鈥 he said.
People in the 狐狸视频 area are concerned that more illnesses are caused by the contamination and some are pushing for legislation to compensate those who are sick. Others have sued those responsible for the waste.
Several people with serious illnesses, or whose loved ones are sick, met recently at Nickel鈥檚 house.
Jim Gaffney, now in his 60s, grew up in the 1960s playing in Coldwater Creek 鈥 his childhood home backed up to the waterway.
鈥淚 was always in the creek,鈥 Gaffney said. 鈥淭old not to, but we had seven kids. Mom couldn鈥檛 watch us all. We just thought it was fun. We built mudslides and everything. I鈥檓 sure I got exposed.鈥
He and his wife, Susie, loved the neighborhood so much that when they got married, they moved into a home there. Their children grew up playing in a park that backs to the creek, Susie Gaffney said.
鈥淲e had no warnings. We had no fears,鈥 she said.
Jim Gaffney was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma in 1981 and given little chance to survive. A bone-marrow transplant saved his life, but the toll of the radiation, chemotherapy and the disease has been enormous.
鈥淣ow I鈥檝e got hypertension, heart failure, I鈥檝e had at least five bladder tumors removed since 鈥95. I鈥檓 still here, but it鈥檚 not been easy,鈥 he said.
The Gaffneys鈥 son Joe has battled thyroid cancer since 1998 when he was 18.
Tricia Byrnes swam in Weldon Spring quarries as a teenager. Eight years ago, her 15-year-old son was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the thymus, a small organ near the heart. She wonders about a connection.
Last year, she became so frustrated with the lack of acknowledgement about the health risk at Weldon Spring that she successfully ran as a Republican for the Missouri House, where she is pushing for federal compensation for those who believe their illnesses are connected to contamination. She said it鈥檚 infuriating that the federal government not only allowed the contamination that made people sick, but didn鈥檛 do enough to contain it.
鈥淲hat the hell is wrong with people?鈥 she asked.
Concerns flare up, even when the government ensures safety. Last October, a private scientist hired by lawyers involved in lawsuits over Coldwater Creek contamination conducted a study that suggested radioactive contamination at Jana Elementary School in Florissant, which sits along the creek.
The Army Corps of Engineers followed up with its own study indicating the school and playground were safe. But in March, the school board decided to close the school after calls to do so from politicians from both sides of the aisle.
The unease surrounding the grade school was evidence that decades later, the region continues to grapple with its nuclear legacy.
Producing nuclear weapons was a concerted national effort. Cleaning up the waste requires a similarly coordinated campaign, said Verhoff, the historian.
鈥淐an we fund our cleanups? Can we react with the same urgency?鈥 she said.
Citing the new reporting, state Reps. Doug Clemens, D-St. Ann, and Tricia Byrnes, R-Wentzville, said Wednesday they are calling on Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey 鈥渢o use the powers of his office to seek justice for the Missouri families impacted by the reckless, dangerous and careless acts of negligence鈥 by federal agencies and 鈥渁ny other entity involved in this conspiracy against the public.鈥 The two lawmakers will be joined by representatives of Just Mom STL at a press conference on Thursday in Weldon Spring.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, referenced the news organizations鈥 reporting on the documents Wednesday in remarks on the floor of the Senate. He said he would introduce legislation that would pay medical bills for people with cancer, an autoimmune disease or genetic disorder connected to the contamination. However, the 2019 federal report on Coldwater Creek said that 鈥渘o method exists鈥 to link a particular cancer with exposure to local radiation.
鈥淚t is clear today that further action is needed because the federal government has caused this harm,鈥 Hawley said.
Additional reporting by Jeff Roberson.
Updated at 4:22 p.m. with comments by U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley.
狐狸视频鈥 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 狐狸视频 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 狐狸视频 County for radiological contamination.
House committee hears testimony on compensation for 狐狸视频-area residents exposed to radioactive waste
Mallinckrodt Chemical Works processed uranium ore for the Manhattan Project beginning in the 1940s; radioactive waste from that production contaminated areas in north 狐狸视频 County along the Coldwater Creek watershed and around Weldon Spring in St. Charles County.
The legislation will be the subject of a hearing on March 7.
Three of Linda Morice鈥檚 close relatives died of cancer in Florissant near Coldwater Creek. Now she is the author of 鈥淣uked: Echoes of the Hiroshima Bomb in 狐狸视频.鈥澛
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.
鈥淔rom a radiological standpoint, the school is safe,鈥 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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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.聽
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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 狐狸视频 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.聽
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Exposure to the radiological contaminants that polluted the creek could raise the risks of bone cancer, lung cancer and leukemia.
At a packed 鈥渓istening session鈥 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, 狐狸视频 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.聽
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.
Documentary on North County's radioactive legacy hits airwaves with comment period underway for West Lake proposal.
A bill that would apply to residents of the Spanish Village neighborhood and a nearby mobile home park has passed the Missouri Senate.
The proposal would affect about 90 homes in the Spanish Village subdivision in North County.
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Announcement comes one week after Bridgeton couple filed a lawsuit alleging home was contaminated.
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Health department originally planned to design and conduct its own study of the radioactively contaminated creek
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