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Ticking nuclear time bomb in St. Louis


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In 1973, radioactive waste a private company had bought from the government was illegally dumped at the landfill. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recommended the waste be removed in 1988, but the company that now owns the land has — with EPA approval — opted for containment as opposed to removal, maintaining that the waste there is low-level when it comes to radioactivity, and not a threat to public health.

 

But it may not be that simple. Government documents unearthed by residents suggest that the extent of the contamination may be far worse — perhaps at an unprecedented level, some experts say. Following a largely broken or incomplete paper trail, residents and activists have found evidence that there may be soil laced with uranium, thorium and radium buried there.

And there is another problem: the fire. It smolders underneath an adjacent landfill, burning at some 300 degrees and slowly moving toward where the waste is thought to be.

Nobody is quite sure what will happen if the two meet, but locals and the county are preparing for the worst: a nuclear emergency in the middle of St. Louis.

 

http://america.aljazeera.com/multimedia/2015/5/st-louis-burning-the-ticking-time-bomb.html

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That's beautiful. DOE generates the waste, the EPA allows it to be dumped, so the DOE gives it to a contractor to dump against the DOE's own advice. And now the DOE won't address it under their remediation program, because it's a local problem.

 

Government bureaucracy doesn't get any better than that.

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That's beautiful. DOE generates the waste, the EPA allows it to be dumped, so the DOE gives it to a contractor to dump against the DOE's own advice. And now the DOE won't address it under their remediation program, because it's a local problem.

 

Government bureaucracy doesn't get any better than that.

 

This is probably where the gatormans and birddogs jump in to explain how this wouldn't be a problem if we just spend more money on those agencies.

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