Newly public documents are showing how America’s push for the atomic bomb helped saddle St. Louis with an enduring radioactive waste problem.
Read more:The AP examined hundreds of pages of internal memos, inspection reports and other items dating to the early 1950s, and found nonchalance and indifference to the risks of materials used in the development of nuclear weapons during and after World War II.between The Missouri Independent, the nonprofit newsroom MuckRock and The Associated Press. The government documents were obtained by outside researchers through the Freedom of Information Act and shared with the news organizations.
“This is an enterprise of heavy industry,” said Gwendolyn Verhoff, a historian at St. Louis Community College. Alison Carrick, co-director of “The First Secret City,” a documentary about the region’s nuclear history, said after the war some companies thought that byproducts of the radioactive material could be sold.In 1966, the Atomic Energy Commission demolished and buried buildings at the airport site. Continental Mining and Milling Co. moved the waste to 9200 Latty Ave. in nearby Bridgeton, piling it in a heap, the commission said at the time. Radioactive barrels lay outside the fence.
A no trespassing sign hangs on a fence around the West Lake Landfill Superfund site on Friday, April 21, 2023, in Bridgeton, Mo. The AEC, historically responsible for the nation’s nuclear weapons program, was abolished in the 1970s, in no small part because of public criticism of its handling of nuclear safety. The Department of Energy is now responsible for overseeing the country’s nuclear weapons and waste.
In a May 27, 1966, memo from a senior radiation specialist for the Atomic Energy Commission, it was noted that at Continental, an inspector found a pile of uranium material 30 feet wide, 100 feet long and nearly 8 feet high that was not in a secure area behind fencing and a locked gate, as the contract required. About 100 barrels of “miscellaneous residues” also were found outside the fenced area.
Co-founders of Just Moms STL, Karen Nickel, left, and Dawn Chapman listen along with Ashley Bernaugh, right, as Missouri Rep. Tricia Byrnes, foreground, discusses nuclear contamination in and around the St. Louis area Friday, April 7, 2023, in Maryland Heights, Mo. Efforts to force cleanup have been led largely by women who wouldn’t take no for an answer.
Karen Nickel pauses at her dining room table as she discusses nuclear contamination in and around the St. Louis area with fellow activists Friday, April 7, 2023, in Maryland Heights, Mo. While nuclear workers had direct exposure, people who live near contamination sites worry about uncertainty. Many who grew up in the area weren’t told about the risks for decades.
“I was always in the creek,” Gaffney said. “Told not to, but we had seven kids. Mom couldn’t watch us all. We just thought it was fun. We built mudslides and everything. I’m sure I got exposed.”
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