Underground Radioactive Fire At Saint Louis Landfill: Airborne Readings

We took Geiger counter readings from the area surrounding the ongoing underground fire at the West Lake Radioactive Landfill Superfund site. What we discovered was that the greater the stench the greater the amount of airborne radioactivity.

Our measurements indicate that the stench is 30% more radioactive than those areas with no stench, 35 counters per minute vs 27 counts per minute. Of course all this is dependent on the wind, and what is bubbling out of the ground. What is really needed is multiple deployed radioactive air quality monitoring equipment, but don't count on it happening.

Unfortunately, we can not estimate the risk for this situation. Others have claimed it is a dirty bomb just waiting for the underground fire to hit it; where as officials claim that the increased radioactivity is nothing to worry about.

Based on our limited data, it would seem that the underground fire is already interacting with the radioactive material. But one thing you can likely hang your hat on is that there is ZERO worthwhile planning on how to respond if the site does go up as a radioactive dirty bomb.

If you live down wind of the underground radioactive fire, it would best to assume that you are on your own.  Buy a Geiger counter; the ones we use are shown on the Amazon widget on the left side of the www.POTRBLOG.com website (make sure you shop around for the best deal).