ST. LOUIS – The public will start to see an increase in activity on Jana Elementary School property in the next few weeks as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) St. Louis District prepares to start remediation work in the banks of Coldwater Creek under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP).
Under FUSRAP, USACE is responsible for cleaning up sites with contamination associated with historic activities performed as part of the nation’s early atomic energy program by the Manhattan Engineer District and Atomic Energy Commission. The work being performed on the Jana Elementary property is part of USACE’s ongoing remediation efforts along Coldwater Creek authorized under FUSRAP.
The initial stages of preparatory work involves installing a temporary road for equipment to access the remediation area. The public will also see additional tree and brush clearing and the delivery of equipment that will be used during remediation. While there will be significant activity ongoing, actual excavation to remove contamination will not begin until early summer. Remediation is scheduled to be complete late fall.
“We are here for this community and remain focused on advancing our cleanup efforts under FUSRAP,” said Phil Moser, St. Louis District program manager for FUSRAP. “As we always do, the FUSRAP team will ensure activities at the site are done in a safe and effective manner, ultimately leaving the site along the creek bank in a better place that is safe from a radiological standpoint.”
To date, the St. Louis District FUSRAP team has obtained more than 34,000 samples from approximately 14 miles of Coldwater Creek and its associated floodplain, has removed over 1.3 million cubic yards of contaminated material, and has completely remediated the source material that caused the contamination along Coldwater Creek. Currently, the FUSRAP team is in the final phases of sampling the 14-mile length of Coldwater Creek and is preparing remediation design activities for the residual contamination identified by that sampling. Additionally, in response to community concern and out of an abundance of caution, USACE completed sampling efforts both inside and outside Jana Elementary for radiological materials, which concluded that the school is safe from a radiological standpoint.
For more information on the ongoing remediation activities along Coldwater Creek visit:
https://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/Missions/FUSRAP/SLAPS-VPs/
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Release no. 23-017
