Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm this week traveled to Missouri where she visited with the congresswoman whose district includes Jana Elementary School, which was closed and vacated due to radioactive contaminants from the Manhattan Project discovered in Coldwater Creek, just outside the school.
The school is near the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program cleanup of the Coldwater Creek Superfund site near the St. Louis airport, which stored waste from the Weldon Springs Chemical Plant that processed uranium for nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project.
Granholm met this week with Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) at the Weldon Spring Site Interpretative Center, where the chemical plant used to be.
“This conversation marks an inflection point in a positive partnership, and I believe that, together, we will work with the community to ensure the federal government cleans up its waste, restores trust, and ensures our neighborhoods are safer and healthier,” Bush said in a press release published Tuesday.
During her trip to Missouri, Granholm spoke to reporters, including local NBC affiliate KSDK news, about the possibility of cleaning up the creek near Jana elementary. Granholm did not say what, if anything, DOE might do.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) this week criticized Granholm for her lack of candor. The Senate in July approved an amendment from Hawley that would allow people in the St. Louis area to receive financial compensation from DOE for illnesses arising from nuclear weapons work near the city.
Bush and Hawley have occasionally worked together to press the DOE for action on St. Louis-area contamination.
Jana Elementary closed in 2022 and has not reopened. The school shuttered after a report by Boston Chemical Data Corp. found that radiological contamination around the campus exceeded Environmental Protection Agency cleanup standards.
