Report says Missouri elementary school contaminated with nuclear waste

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Grounds of a Missouri school that sits in a flood plain of a river contaminated by World War II nuclear bomb testing was recently found to contain radioactive levels up to 22 times more than expected, officials said.

Samples taken by Boston Chemical Data Corp. on Aug. 15 found radioactive isotope lead-210, polonium, radium and other toxins after taking samples from Jana Elementary School in the Hazelwood School District in Florissant, Mo.

"Evidence from the community-based testing ... demonstrates that radiological contamination exists at unacceptable levels at the Jana School property," the report said in its conclusion.

"Remedial measures are appropriate to reduce exposure to radioactive materials for users of the school building and grounds but are complicated by recontamination due to flooding of the contaminated Coldwater Creek."

The school is in the flood plain of Coldwater Creek, officials said. Samples were taken from the school's kitchen, library, HVAC system, classrooms, fields and playground area.

"This has been in our community for over 80 years," Ashley Bernaugh, president of the Jana parent-teacher association, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We expect the school board to make the agencies responsible for this come in and clean it up."

The Hazelwood School District said in a statement released on social media that it is currently examining the report.

"Safety is always our top priority and we are actively discussing the implications of the findings," the district said on Twitter. "The board of education will be consulting with attorneys and experts in this area of testing to determine next steps."

The Army Corps of Engineers started testing the area in 2018 and initially identified nuclear contamination but not to the level found in the August report.

The school board first balked at additional testing after Christen Commuso of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment obtained the results of the Army Corps' study in the spring through a Freedom of Information Act.

After parents approached the school board, they relented to the new tests and found the enhanced contamination.