Wash U scientist: Landfill hotspots ‘extremely radioactive’ – Grant Bissell, KSDK 8:30 p.m. EST January 28, 2014

BRIDGETON, Mo. – New information released Tuesday paints a clearer picture of the growing problems at the radioactive West Lake Landfill in Bridgeton.

NewsChannel 5 got a look at a map of a portion of the landfill known as Area 1. It shows where the Environmental Protection Agency found new radioactive “hot spots” during ground testing late last year. The tests were being done to find a place to build a barrier between the waste and an underground fire in the adjacent Bridgeton Landfill.

Many of the hot spots were outside the area where radioactive material was thought to be and some were outside a fence built to protect workers.

Robert Criss, a professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University, says the level of contamination at some of the hot spots appears to be “significant.”

Criss is also challenging the way the radiation levels were gathered. He says the EPA’s machines were calibrated too close to the landfill and the hot spots could be even more radioactive than the numbers show.

“It’s simply absurd and this is a standard ruse by potentially responsible parties. To establish background you have to get away from a contaminated area. It’s a no-brainer,” he said.

Criss says there’s a real chance the radioactive waste may be spreading through groundwater.

Environmental groups like the Missouri Coalition for the Environment are calling on the EPA to do ground tests throughout the West Lake Landfill in order to identify other potential hot spots and to tell how close the waste may be to the Bridgeton Landfill fire.

http://www.dnr.mo.gov/bridgeton/docs/bt012coringsamplingworkplan121813.pdf

Please look at page 56..it should say page 4 of 5 Table 2.1-1. Please look at the Typical Baseline Response and the column next to it. You will see that the standard measurement they use here is cpm counts per minute.
The Map is on page 49. You will need to zoom in to see the readings. If you look at the map on the western boundary next to the road is where the GCPT 2-2 is showing 1600 cps @ 34 ft — GCPT1-2 has 1131 cps at 24.4 ft.
Here is the thing…these results are done in cps (counts per second) and so you have to convert them to cpm (counts per minute)…so all you do is you multiply the number by 60..example 94 cps = 94 X 60= 5,640 cpm. If you will notice along the inside of the black fence in area 1 you can see VERY high counts…then move a few feet to the outside and you will see that they haven’t tested for it. Along the South you will see readings in the areas that are again VERY HOT.

 

Author: Moms

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