HAZELWOOD (AP) - The Army Corps of Engineers said it has discovered "low-level" radioactive contamination in residential yards that back up to Coldwater Creek in St. Louis County.
Corps spokesman Mike Petersen said homeowners have been notified, but he couldn't give an exact number of affected properties because some samples are still being validated. In the places where contamination was confirmed, it's several inches beneath the soil surface and isn't dangerous unless it's exposed.
"We've spoken with those homeowners and let them know what we're dealing with and what the risk is," Petersen said. "We have discovered it in backyards, which is not too surprising based on what we've found along Coldwater Creek. There's a lot of this contamination that has spread over the years."
Since 2013, the Corps has been remediating the creek which was contaminated with uranium processing waste stored at sites near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The Corps also is cleaning up a site north of downtown St. Louis where a former chemical company, which now makes medical products, used to process uranium for an early nuclear program.
It could be months before the residential properties can be cleaned of the contamination because of other polluted sites and limited federal funds.
Residents who pushed for additional testing near the creek's floodplain say that they aren't surprised by the results.
"We were hoping maybe they would prove us wrong," said Jenell Wright, who lived in the area near the creek for almost 30 years. "Unfortunately our worst fears are being confirmed."
The Corps has identified radioactive contamination on private commercial property, but it's the first time it has found contamination on residential properties.
Petersen said the Corps understands that it can be alarming for residents to hear that part of their yards are radioactively contaminated, but he said "there's nothing on the surface that we've found" that would pose a high risk.
"We've taken the homeowners out and shown them where we've found it so they know," he said.