Work to remove radioactive material at West Lake Lake Landfill in Bridgeton, seen here on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018, is expected to begin in 2027, the Environmental Protection Agency says.
The long-awaited excavation of radioactive contamination at the West Lake Landfill Superfund site is targeted to begin in 2027, roughly two years ahead of schedule, the Environmental Protection Agency said Monday.
The announcement comes after years of delays in the cleanup timeline for the eventual removal of illegally dumped radioactive waste that traces back to local uranium processing for the Manhattan Project’s creation of the nation’s first nuclear weapons.
A draft timeline from the entities on the hook to pay for the site’s cleanup, from landfill operators to the U.S. Department of Energy, had called for excavation to begin in May 2029, the EPA said, more than a decade after it had approved a plan to unearth the bulk of the landfill’s radioactivity and dispose of it off-site.
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EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who visited West Lake last month after an invitation from Missouri’s senior Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, called for “urgent progress†in a news release detailing the revised plan for the site’s cleanup.
A radiation warning sign hangs on a fence at the West Lake landfill in Bridgeton on March 13, 2012.
“Meeting and speaking with the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ community members who have long endured radioactive waste in the community was beyond moving,†he said in the release. “This moment requires an unprecedented effort to clean up the West Lake Landfill and impacted sites in the area.â€
The EPA’s announcement did not specify targeted completion dates for the cleanup work, but the agency has long sought for its planning process and additional sampling to expedite the removal of contaminants, once it finally begins.
Meanwhile, the new cleanup goals are “tentative and subject to change,†the EPA said. For instance, the accelerated plan relies on certain assumptions about progress and time savings that can be achieved in the back-and-forth reviews and meetings between the agency and the parties tasked with funding the work.
Other needs exist, too, such hiring technical staff members, the EPA said.
The news Monday, though, was greeted with delight by Dawn Chapman, co-founder of Just Moms STL, a local volunteer group that closely follows West Lake.
“This site doesn’t give us good news very often,†Chapman said. But Monday, she added, offered one of the “rare moments†when updates about West Lake offered some thrilling excitement and a “sense of relief.â€
She said she was reassured by an accompanying timeline that included targeted dates for a variety of steps leading up to the start of excavation.
“To see all of these written down here, it’s like, ‘OK, they mean it,’†she said. “They’re not just dropping this document and then walking away for a while.â€
Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of images each week; here's a glimpse at the week of March 30, 2025. Video edited by Jenna Jones.
