nuclear-news

USA’s Environmental Protection Agency to test areas in Bridgeton for radioactive contamination.

EPA to test areas in Bridgeton for radioactive contamination St Louis Public Radio, 17 Nov 16  The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to test areas in Bridgeton for radioactive contamination.

Federal officials are responding to allegations made by residents near the West Lake Landfill. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday against against landfill owner Republic Services, Michael and Robbin Dailey claimed contamination from the Superfund site was found in their home.

EPA officials have previously said there is no evidence that radioactive material has migrated away from the site.

Original story from Nov. 15 —Residents in Bridgeton have filed a lawsuit Tuesday afternoon in the St. Louis County Circuit Court, alleging that radioactive waste was found at a home near the West Lake Landfill.

The lawsuit names nine companies, including landfill owner Republic Services, the Cotter Corporation and Mallinckrodt Inc. as defendants. The plaintiffs are Michael and Robbin Dailey, who live in the Spanish Village subdivision. According to the lawsuit, sampling conducted at their property last summer found “high levels of uranium decay products, including thorium, lead, radon” in the kitchen, basement and yard. Exposure to such substances can increase the risk to cancer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

It also claims that dust inside their home contained levels of the radioactive element Thorium-230 that were at least 200 times higher than background levels.

The Daileys have lived in Spanish Village since 1999. Robbin Dailey has long been concerned that exposure to nuclear waste from the Superfund site has adversely affected their health. ……

The West Lake Landfill, a federally listed Superfund site, contains World War II-era nuclear waste that was illegally dumped there in the 1970s. It sits approximately 600 feet from an underground smoldering fire under the Bridgeton Landfill……

Area activists have long pressed for a voluntary buyout for residents living near the landfill. A news release from the group Just Moms STL has called on the EPA and Gov. Jay Nixon to relocate families immediately. ……http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/epa-test-areas-bridgeton-radioactive-contamination#stream/0

November 18, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA