nuclear-news

St Louis residents demanding answers on underground fire near nuclear waste

“Hot spot” near nuclear waste has St. Louis residents on edge, CBS News, 27 Oct 15  There is growing fear in a suburban St. Louis community over a potential threat buried in the ground. A local landfill contains nuclear waste and just three football fields away, a “hot spot” has been burning underground in a second landfill.

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Federal officials insist the so-called “smoldering event” is contained, and not advancing towards the waste. But nearby residents have lived with both the burn and the waste for years, and they say they are fed up, reports CBS News correspondent Vinita Nair.

Hundreds of people demanded answers Monday night from federal officials.

“You can’t 100 percent guarantee that we’re okay,” said one resident.

“We don’t go outside, we don’t open our windows,” said another………

Missouri’s attorney general is now suing the landfill’s owner, Republic Services. He says the company mishandled the fire and his experts say the underground burn could conceivably hit the material in three to six months.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Republic strongly deny those reports. The company has also spent millions of dollars to contain the burn and control the odors…….

it’s not just the underground fire that is a concern – this weekend a grass fire erupted within some 75 yards of the radioactive waste. This region also sits near an earthquake fault line. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/st-louis-community-fed-up-over-dangerous-landfills-attorney-general-sues/

October 28, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general