A new report from the U.S. Geological Survey which reviewed the site characterization work previously performed at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis indicates that more radioactive waste may be present at the site than previously thought. The Geological Survey report reviews the work performed by Engineering Management Support, Inc., the company hired by Republic Services, the owners of the site and a responsible party for the cleanup costs. “Although the author may be correct that the majority of the radioactive material (RIM) is not barium sulfate or barite, in reports on the site there are only a few poorly documented chemical analyses compared to the hundreds of radiological measurements, so it is difficult to substantiate the author’s statement that longstanding assertions indicating that barium sulfate is an important component of the radioactive wastes at the site is somehow contrary to chemical and physical data,” the report said. “The previous reports do not use the term “leached barium sulfate” that the author does, but use the term “leached barium sulfate residues”. This may be an important distinction and a careful review of the feed materials process may provide some information on the general nature of what the ‘residues’ may have been,” the report said.
The West Lake Landfill cleanup project has taken on an added sense of urgency after different recent reports revealed that the site contains more radioactive waste closer to a nearby smoldering fire than previously thought. Currently, the West Lake Landfill is under the supervision of the EPA’s Superfund program, which took over responsibility for the site in 1990. The EPA is conducting an engineering survey and groundwater analysis of the site to determine the best location to construct an isolation barrier to prevent the spread of a smoldering fire located near the radioactive part of the landfill. The EPA has also brought in the Army Corps of Engineers to help in the construction of the barrier, as well as with the cleanup of the site, after public outcry called for a more experienced approach to the cleanup.
