Record rainfall on Tuesday morning has some North County residents worried about possible radioactive runoff from two nuclear waste sites.
At the West Lake Landfill, where nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project was buried, runoff has been going downhill toward Earth City. The EPA told KMOX it's evaluating the effect of the rain on the cover at the West Lake Landfill, but more testing would be needed to measure possible radioactive runoff.
Dawn Chapman, member of the group Just Moms, said she's tired of waiting on officials to do something about the safety hazard, especially after the recent flooding and rain.
"This has the potential to pick that waste up and deposit it in other areas," Chapman said. "I really want our government, who's ultimately responsible for this, to stop fussing around and start getting this the hell out of our floodplains."
Also concerning to residents is the Coldwater Creek, which runs throughout north St. Louis County and is in the midst of a nuclear cleanup by the federal government. Chapman said the creek is out of its banks and has swamped some back hoes that were on site for the cleanup.
"All throughout North County there's still surface level radioactivity, and Coldwater Creek is so far out of its banks," she said. "It's in people's basements, it's in parks."
The St. Louis area broke records for rainfall early Tuesday morning, resulting in heavy flooding in many parts of the city.
