The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started sampling for radioactive contamination buried deep beneath a subdivision in Florissant, Mo., near Coldwater Creek, the federal organization said Monday.
The Corps’ St. Louis District office said in a press release sampling is starting under its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), in Florissant, about 18 miles from St. Louis, and the site of an elementary school vacated last year due to contamination concerns.
The sampling targets the right-of-way of Cades Cove Drive, on common grounds next to Coldwater Creek, the Corps said. Remediation work should start within a year, the Corps said.
“Since 2014, sampling and investigation in and around Coldwater Creek have detected contamination, particularly in the historic 10-year floodplain between the creek and Cades Cove Drive,” the Army Corps said in the release. Affected residents have been notified and right of entry granted to the federal agency.
When the subdivision first went up, “old creek meander was covered up with fill, which caused contamination to be buried deep within a small portion of the subdivision closest to Coldwater Creek,” the Corps said.
The Corps has said its remediation plans include excavating more than 5,100 cubic yards of contaminated material along with 19,500 cubic yards of uncontaminated material.
The Coldwater Creek Superfund site has suffered radiological and chemical contamination dating from 1940s era Manhattan Engineer District, Atomic Energy Commission, nuclear work.