Dive Brief:

• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) doesn’t think that the underground fire burning beneath Missouri's Bridgeton landfill is moving closer to the adjacent West Lake landfill—​the site where radioactive waste is buried.
• The EPA stated its conclusions in a letter to the head of the Center for Health, Environment and Justice. 
• This statement on behalf of the EPA is another chapter in the ongoing saga surrounding the smoldering site that has been going on for years. The EPA is determining if the site should be cleaned up or if the nuclear waste should be isolated. Currently, the agency is evaluating the construction of a barrier separating the two sites. 

Dive Insight:

The letter also stated that if the fire does reach the West Lake site, the agency doesn’t think radioactive materials would be released into the air—just gas. That mirrors a Republic Services study finding that there was “little risk” of the fire releasing radioactive material if it does indeed reach the nuclear waste. 

The EPA’s letter contradicts a previous assessment made by a consultant for the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) assering that the fire is increasing in mass and moving toward the nuclear waste.