FEDERAL RADIOACTIVE WASTE SITES MITIGATION, ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, USA

The War Department in the 1930s, and later a succession of federal agencies, was responsible for the creation of atomic/nuclear weapons and their wastes. A St. Louis chemical plant, one of the many facilities across the US, processed ores in a first stage of concentrating uranium for these weapons until 1957. Original, misunderstood, and/or easier practices caused contamination of that chemical plant, properties in its vicinity, soils, haul routes, and temporary storage sites, which allowed eolian deposition and downstream transport of radiological and hazardous wastes. Many issues contributed to delays in properly removing all waste that posed health risks at impacted properties. These sites, named the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), were transferred from the Department of Energy to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for management in 1998. USACE districts were assigned to remediate various FUSRAP sites under EPA’s approval by following CERCLA/NEPA policies for health risk and remediation protocols. The St. Louis District, USACE, was given responsibility for the FUSRAP sites in the St. Louis metro area. The Record of Decision for the North St. Louis County Sites resolved the short list of contaminants of concern and concluded that the exposure risk to an individual’s entire lifetime is generally less than 1 in 10,000. The rigorous CERCLA/NEPA and EPA's approval processes can be so complex that even experienced environmental remediation firms may not fully comprehend all the regulatory requirements and remedial goals. The Jana Elementary School, located in the Coldwater Creek watershed, that drew repeated news attention, typifies this difficulty of understanding the FUSRAP actions. The history of casual disposal of radioactive materials, subsequent media contamination, extensive site investigations, multiple-expertise involvement, and long-term health risks are discussed in detail in the presentation.