Renewed concerns about St. Louis area Superfund site

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Environmentalists are renewing concerns about a federal decision to cap an old landfill in the Missouri River flood plain that holds radioactive waste.

The waste was generated during production of nuclear weapons in the 1940s and '50s.

The St. Louis-based Missouri Coalition for the Environment say it wants the waste to be excavated and shipped to a licensed disposal site, and not be left in Bridgeton, a St. Louis suburb.

The group cites concerns about water supply contamination and escape of radioactive radon gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency says the issues have been raised before. The EPA issued its decision last May that the wastes would remain undisturbed but capped. The agency declared the landfill a Superfund site in 1990.

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On the Net:

http://www.moenviron.org/

http://www.epa.gov/region07/