As reported by St. Louis Public Radio, "[a] new analysis by scientists at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggests there could be risks to area residents if an underground fire were to reach radioactive waste at the West Lake Landfill."
In the early 1970s, the radioactive wastes from the Manhattan Project were illegally dumped in the Missouri River floodplain, near residential communities and not far upstream from major drinking water intakes for St. Louis area residents.
Beyond Nuclear board member Kay Drey has been a long-time watchdog on the West Lake Landfill. For example, in 1989 she was interviewed by the St. Louis Post Dispatch in a major exposé on the "Legacy of the Bomb" for the St. Louis area.