Nuclear waste barrier ordered

The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the installation of an isolation barrier to make sure that an underground f ire does not reach buried nuclear waste at a suburban St. Louis landfill.

EPA regional administrator Mark Hague, who announced the move Thursday, said the plan for West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, Mo., also calls for additional engineering steps, such as cooling loops. The barrier will consist of an underground wall.

Nuclear waste dating to the Manhattan Project was dumped at West Lake in 1973. An underground f ire has been smoldering for years and is now within 1,200 feet.

The work will be paid for by Republic Services, which owns the landfill. A spokesman for Republic Services said the company is ready to proceed with installation of the barrier.

The company says there is no risk the f ire will reach the nuclear material, but environmentalists disagree.

Ed Smith of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment said the barrier is not enough.

“The only way to ensure a smoldering or surface f ire doesn’t impact the radioactive wastes is to remove them,” Smith said.

The cause of the underground f ire is unknown. Fumes from the fire prompted Missouri Atty. Gen. Chris Koster to sue Republic Services in 2013. The case is scheduled for trial in March.

West Lake was declared a Superfund hazardouswaste cleanup site in 1990. In 2008, the EPA announced a remediation plan to cap the nuclear waste with rock, clay and soil. The plan drew enough opposition that the EPA reconsidered. The agency has not yet announced a new plan despite criticism from some lawmakers and residents who say it is moving too slowly.