Army Corps downplays radioactive waste findings at Missouri elementary school

The Army Corps of Engineers is casting doubt on an independent report that revealed “unacceptably high” levels of radioactive lead at a Missouri elementary school near a creek contaminated with nuclear waste from World War II.

Last week’s report by the environmental investigations firm Boston Chemical Data Corp. found more than 22 times the expected level of radioactive waste in Jana Elementary School’s kindergarten playground and more than 12 times the expected level by the school’s basketball courts.

The report was based on samples taken Aug. 15 from the Florissant school’s classrooms, playgrounds, fields, library and kitchen, among other areas.

It confirmed the worst fears of many parents, including Ashley Bernaugh, the president of the Jana PTA, whose son attends the school. Bernaugh has been fighting for years to get the school tested after she noticed the Corps of Engineers taking samples from near, but not inside, the school starting in 2018.

“You don’t want to be right that your kid’s playground or the school is contaminated,” she said. “Unfortunately, I am right.”

The Army Corps of Engineers disagrees.

“The Boston Chemical Data Corp. report is not consistent with our accepted evaluation techniques and must be thoroughly vetted to ensure accuracy,” said Phil Moser, a program manager overseeing the investigation and cleanup of sites that were part of the country’s early atomic energy and weapons program.

He added in a statement to NBC News, “Any contamination posing a high risk or immediate threat would be made a priority for remediation.”

Jana Elementary is in the flood plain of Coldwater Creek, which was contaminated during the 1940s and the 1950s when radioactive bomb waste from weapons production was dumped nearby.

The Corps of Engineers has been cleaning up the creek for more than two decades. While it has tested around the creek for years, it never took samples inside or within 300 feet of the elementary school.

Documents obtained this spring by student safety advocates showed low-level contamination in the banks of the creek near the school, based on the Corps of Engineers’ 2018 tests.

Bernaugh and other parents pushed the Corps to do more testing inside the school, but she says the Corps told her it was unnecessary. Under pressure from the community, school officials eventually agreed to allow outside testing.

“I have a job to protect all those kids, whether they’re mine or not,” Bernaugh said.

Boston Chemical’s report said radioactive levels were most likely posing an “unacceptably high risk to the children.” The Hazelwood School District, which includes Jana, said in a statement that it is “consulting with attorneys and experts in this area of testing to determine next steps.”

In the meantime, the school will switch to virtual learning beginning Monday, the school board said.

The board apologized to parents at a meeting Tuesday night and said it planned to work with legal counsel to ensure hazardous material is cleaned up.