Smoldering in Bridgeton landfill continues to move toward radioactive material

[Sherman A1]

(KMOV.com) -- Shocking news emerged Thursday for residents who live around the Bridgeton landfill.

An announcement came in the evening that work being done to fix the smoldering deep within the site isn’t working.

A group of concerned citizens, called Missouri Coalition for the Environment, say the fire continues to move toward the radioactive waste, and has moved 200 feet closer in the last three months.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has been monitoring the hot spots at the landfill, and posting the temperature readings online.

http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Smolder-208762791.html

[liberal N proud]

1. That landfill is a just over a mile from the Lambert St. Louis airport

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Some background on this potentially disastrous situation

First, from the Missouri Coalition for the Environment
http://www.moenviron.org/index.php/program-areas/safe-energy-program/westlake

next, this Rolling Stone article to which I found a link at the website above
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/st-louis-is-burning-20130510

Although I am gobsmacked by current inaction on the part of government agencies, this problem didn't develop overnight. Aside from the fact that this is a piss-poor location for burying nuclear waste in the first place, several decades of inaction have passed since then. From the first linked article, it's apparent that St. Louis - and potentially millions more people - dodged a bullet during flooding in 1993. In the event of a release of radioactivity, either into the air or into the groundwater, there would be no coming back as in the case of New Orleans following Katrina. It would be like Chernobyl on the Mississippi.