Despite a self-imposed Jan. 31 deadline, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had not announced its decision Wednesday on how it will tackle cleanup of radioactive waste buried in the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis, Mo.
The agency said earlier this month that EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt would decide the remediation approach at some point in January. There was no immediate statement from the EPA on Wednesday on any change to its schedule.
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources had also not heard from the EPA by Wednesday afternoon.
As of early January, the EPA was considering a number of options: capping the “radiologically impacted material” in place; some form of partial excavation with off-site disposal; and full excavation with on-site or off-site disposal. The costs of the options range from $75 million to $695 million, according to an EPA draft final feasibility study issued last August.
The 200-acre West Lake Landfill Superfund Site encompasses both the Bridgeton and West Lake landfills. Operable Unit 1 at West Lake contains the contaminated material, the result of use in 1973 of 8,700 tons of leached barium sulfate and 38,000 tons of soil to cover refuse at the landfill.
The majority of the radioactive material is thorium-230, which is a decay product of uranium, which was processed at St. Louis’ Mallinckrodt Chemical Works facility during World War II for the Manhattan Project.
The presence of the radioactive contamination has been a greater concern as an underground fire has smoldered for years at the Bridgeton Landfill.