U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is expected this month to issue a decision on the approach for remediation of radiologically contaminated material at the West Lake Superfund Site in Missouri, the agency said Tuesday.
A number of options are still being considered, according to an EPA spokesman: “cap in place”; multiple partial excavations of contaminated material with off-site disposal; and full excavation with either on-site or off-site disposal. Those alternatives are in line with options laid out in an August 2017 EPA draft final feasibility study on cleanup of “radiologically impacted materials” at the site.
“EPA will make its remedy decision based on the National Contingency Plan criteria and scientific evidence presented in the Administrative Record, in consultation and coordination with its federal and state partner agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources,” Curtis Carey, public affairs director for EPA Region 7, said by email.
The 200-acre West Lake Landfill Superfund Site, in Bridgeton, Mo., has been on the EPA’s National Priorities List since 1990. It encompasses the West Lake and Bridgeton landfills. Operable Unit 1 of the West Lake Landfill contains waste from former uranium production operations at Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in nearby St. Louis. Concerns about that material have risen in recent years in the face of a smoldering underground fire at the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill.
Selection of the remedy plan would be followed by a public comment period and then an amendment to the 2008 record of decision on West Lake cleanup. The agency would also negotiate with the potentially responsible parties for West Lake on an enforceable deal to conduct the work, leading to remedial design and action.
The options laid out in the draft feasibility study are projected to take anywhere from 2.7 years to 13.4 years, and to cost upward of $616 million for full remediation.
