Disaster plan developed for use if St. Louis landfill fire reaches buried nuclear waste

[bananas]

Source: Associated Press

Beneath the surface of a St. Louis-area landfill lurk two things that should never meet: a slow-burning fire and a cache of Cold War-era nuclear waste, separated by no more than 1,200 feet.

Government officials have quietly adopted an emergency plan in case the smoldering embers ever reach the waste, a potentially "catastrophic event" that could send up a plume of radioactive smoke over a densely populated area near the city's main airport.

Although the fire at Bridgeton Landfill has been burning since at least 2010, the plan for a worst-case scenario was developed only a year ago and never publicized until this week, when St. Louis radio station KMOX first obtained a copy.

County Executive Steve Stenger cautioned that the plan "is not an indication of any imminent danger."

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Read more: http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2015/10/06/disaster-plan-developed-in-case-fire-reaches-nuclear-waste

[pipoman]

1. Seems something that some plumbing attached to pumps

In the Mississippi could insure this never happens...I'm no trash fire engineer..

[catnhatnh]

2. Yeah

But maybe at the cost of leaching large amounts of radioactivity into the groundwater....

[trillion]

3. I've never head of this before. Why don't they put out the fire?

[Sherman A1]

6. Actually

I have several posts on the topic in the Missouri Group and other forums, but they have attracted little interest over the years.

The fire cannot be put out as it is underground and they simply cannot safely reach the thing or at least haven't figured out a means of doing so as of yet. Also of concern is the cancer clusters in the area that have been discovered and are attributed by some to the radioactive materials that leached into ColdWater Creek which rambles around North St. Louis County through several communities.

An area near Lambert Airport and what was then McDonnell/Douglas Aircraft used for years as base ball fields was discovered to be coated in toxic dirt and dust. This area was closed off for that use and is now surrounded with some rather high fencing and signs.

[unhappycamper]

7. PA has had an ongoing coal mine fire since 1992.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia_mine_fire

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. wow

[xfundy]

4. Baby Jesus™ won't let any harm come to anyone!

Except maybe the libruls and gays and women. So who cares?!

[bananas]

5. Nuclear waste is Science™! Science™ won't let any harm come to anyone!

Except maybe the libruls and gays and women. So who cares?!

The cause of the fire is unknown. For years, the most immediate concern has been an odor created by the smoldering. Republic Services is spending millions of dollars to ease or eliminate the smell by removing concrete pipes that allowed the odor to escape and installing plastic caps over parts of the landfill.

Directly next to Bridgeton Landfill is West Lake Landfill, also owned by Republic Services. The West Lake facility was contaminated with radioactive waste from uranium processing by a St. Louis company known as Mallinckrodt Chemical. The waste was illegally dumped in 1973 and includes material that dates back to the Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bomb in the 1940s.

[wordpix]

9. "the most immediate concern has been an odor"---yeah, but what's in the odiferous "smoldering?"

What a snow job. "It's just the odor that's the main problem." Right. The petrochemical contaminants in the wee bit of smoke isn't a problem, it's just the odor.

these companies and gov's think their state-of-the-art dumps will prevent rad waste from entering the env't but it never works. This industry needs to be Shut Down!

And just who is this Republic Services? Reminds me of Free Republic and Republicans.

[freebrew]

8. Mel Carnahan made this an issue...

in early 1980's. He was a state legislator then.

St. Charles County is where Malinkrodt(sp?) had their factory. It bordered a Boy Scout campground. Carnahan called a meeting of local residents concerned about a federal bill that would allow nuclear waste to be brought into the area. It was already a cancer hotspot. Most of the residents were appalled that this could happen. The strata in St. Charles county leads almost directly into one of the largest aquafiers in the nation. Many springs and sinkholes exist throughout the area.

Never heard anything else about it, 'til recently when I heard about Uranium Mountain and the problems in Bridgeton.

[wordpix]

10. senior management team for Republic Services, publicly traded on NYSE

http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=82381&p=irol-govmanage

[Sunlei]

11. 'funny' how their stock price dipped ~2009 when fire started and now up & makes a good return.

Corporations have to start to pay for these disasters. Even if it costs their entire bank, they make a mess and expect the American people to pay to clean it up.

[snagglepuss]

12. k and r

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. WTF IS it about Missouri????

Illegally dumped radioactive waste, perpetual fire, in a landfill.

Cannot believe how casual people were back then about radioactive material, and worse yet, STILL stupid about it.