Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
4/11/2013
If the radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill near St. Louis were to come in contact with a smoldering fire nearby, it is unclear if an explosive event could occur, but there is a potential risk to public health, according to a review by the Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development’s Engineering Technical Support Center (ETSC). The review, conducted at the request of EPA Region 7 administrators, analyzed a January report by Engineering Management Support, Inc. on the potential effects of the fire reaching the contaminated area of the site. It concluded that the fire would not make the waste more radioactive, but due to the lack of knowledge about the waste at the site, the explosion potential remains vague. “We agree that the RIM [radiologically-impacted material] in OU-1[Operable Unit-1] is not expected to be more or less radioactive in the presence of heat,” the ETSC review said. “However, we do not have a full accounting of the non-RIM solid waste in OU-1. At this time, we have no evidence that would indicate that the RIM and non-RIM material known to be in OU-1 will become explosive in the presence of heat, even at the elevated temperatures observed in the Bridgeton Landfill. It is notable that in the event of a SSE there could be chemical reactions between the RIM and non-RIM materials in OU-1. These reactions could cause a rapid buildup of heat or gas and subsequent reactions or reactive conditions in the landfill.”
According to the review, potential reactions with the fire could result in the release of air pollution that could be harmful to public health. “There are at least two risk pathways that could exist from a SSE [subsurface smoldering event],” the review said. “The first is through increased air exposures to contaminants such as radon. As airborne concentrations of radon increase, so would the risk to people. The second pathway is increased leachate production that could move contaminants and dissolved radon gas from OU-1 into the groundwater.” According to EPA estimates, the subsurface smoldering nearby remains at least 900 to 1,000 feet away from the area of Operable Unit 1.
From the EPA’s perspective, the report validates the urgency it has showed to construct an isolation barrier to separate the waste from the fire. “We believe the ORD analysis of the EMSI report solidly affirms what we at EPA Region 7 have believed for some time: that installation of an isolation barrier needs to move ahead as a priority,” EPA spokesman Chris Whitley said. “We are being careful to strike a balance between expediency and accuracy of the design, placement and construction, and the simple need to get the work done quickly. It’s important that the survey work be complete so that the barrier will prove effective.”
Lobbying Group Calls for Entombment Rather Than Excavation
Meanwhile, the owners of the West Lake Landfill, Republic Services, launched a lobbying group, the Coalition to Keep Us Safe, last week to advocate that the radioactive waste stay on site, rather than go through a drawn-out excavation process. The EPA’s previous plan for the site called for the covering of the waste with a layer of clay and soil, but local protest and the threat of the fire have changed the EPA’s thinking. The Coalition wants the EPA to return to this original plan, so as not to expose the public to the waste through the transportation process. “Excavation means up to 40 years of clean-up for Missourians,” Coalition spokesperson Molly Teichman said in a statement. “It means more government studies, more taxpayer dollars wasted, and finally, and most troubling, it means transporting, either on trucks or on trains, radiological material across our state.” She also said that an EPA study revealed that movement of the waste “increases the total cancer risk 10 times more than encasing the material on site.” Under Superfund law, Republic Services is responsible for paying for a portion of the cleanup, a figure that would prove to be much smaller if the EPA were to entomb rather than excavate.
The Coalition argued, however, that the real reason for its advocacy laid in defending the tax payer dollar. “Technically, the reason for my interest, and what I think should be the greater conversation, is that it’s not just expensive in general or to the people who have an interest in it, but it actually would be more expensive to the tax payers,” Teichman told RW Monitor. “So you’re looking at it from the interest of Republic, I’m looking at it from the interest of the tax payers. The way it is being taken care of now would be a greater expense, take longer, and be more dangerous.”
Urgency Leads to Call For Help
The project has taken on an added sense of urgency after recent reports revealed that the site contains more radioactive waste closer to the smoldering fire than previously thought. The news prompted a letter from Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster in mid-March that asked the EPA to accelerate its surveying and engineering efforts to enable a prompt construction of an isolation barrier to prevent the fire from spreading to the radioactive waste, as well as calling on the EPA to work with the Army Corps of Engineers on the project. “Over six months have passed, yet construction of the barrier still has not begun,” Koster’s March 18 letter said. “Although we acknowledge that essential surveying is still underway, the ongoing site testing need not prevent construction from commencing, at least in part.”
Currently, the West Lake Landfill is under the supervision of the EPA’s Superfund program, which took over responsibility for the site in 1990. The EPA is conducting an engineering survey and groundwater analysis of the site to determine the best location to construct an isolation barrier to prevent the spread of a smoldering fire located near the radioactive part of the landfill. The EPA has reached out to the Corp to help in the construction of the isolation barrier, and an announcement about the partnership should come soon, Whitley said.
