Missouri Coalition for the Environment (MCE) stands in solidarity with Jana Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and what their independent testing has discovered inside of Jana Elementary School. MCE will help support their needs and push for an immediate and permanent solution to the radioactive contamination found at Jana Elementary School. The health implications are far too severe to continue to allow students and staff to attend Jana until that happens.
We call upon the Hazelwood School District to act swiftly to secure a comprehensive cleanup of all radioactive bomb waste at the school. In the interim, they must provide parents with options to continue students’ education with minimal disruption.
We are approaching 80 years since this nuclear bomb waste has been allowed to plague our neighborhoods.
We cannot continue to allow our children to be collateral damage of World War II.
We must band together to demand a safe, healthy environment to live, work, and play in. There is no amount of nuclear weapons waste that we should accept in our community.
You can read the full report from the independent sampling of Jana Elementary and find ways to support the PTA and children in their letter above.
Excerpt from the report that is linked in the letter from Jana Elementary:
“The Microvision SEM/EDS X-ray data was used to detect and assess radioactive particulate matter associated with contamination from flooding of the nearby Coldwater Creek. The most outstanding result of these analyses was that multiple examples of thorium-containing radioactive particulate matter were detected in the Jana School samples. The results were concerning because inhaling or ingested these particulates could subject one to long-term internal exposure to alpha-radiation emitting microscopic particles. Individual radioactive dust and soil particles were identified that contained as much as 15 percent thorium by weight. Thorium is a radio-toxic natural material that was found in earlier testing by the US Army Corps of Engineers in their initial investigation of Coldwater Creek soils near the school and is associated with the contamination known to be in the creek’s sediments. Of the three hundred and eighty-six (386) microparticles examined in samples from the Coldwater Creek and related areas, three out of the four radioactive microparticles with the highest thorium concentrations came from the Moule Drive/Jana School site. Put another way, of the hundreds of samples collected from the North St. Louis County area, none had more thorium than particulate matter found in the Jana School and in nearby homes adjacent to the Jana School. (Below: X-ray data for 15% thorium dust particle from the Jana School kitchen).”
“Indoor dusts (in the gym and the boiler room) at the Jana School were found to contain radioactive particulate matter with percent concentrations of radioactive thorium, an alpha-emitting radioactive contaminant. These thorium concentrations for dusts at the Jana School were among the highest found in the North St. Louis County area.”
Please join us at the upcoming Hazelwood School District Board of Education Meeting to express your concerns.
Tuesday, October 18 at 6:30 pm
HSD Learning Center
15955 New Halls Ferry Road
Florissant, MO 63031
The staff and students should be removed from this facility immediately until the facility has been cleared of radioactivity and all inspections validate the same. All staff and previous students should be notified. Cleanup she be aided by the state and local government without additional taxes from the taxpayers
Ack!! My family has lived adjacent to the Jana Elementary School playground since 1984 and my kids attended Jana Elementary School from 1988 to 1998. During this period, they/we were/have been exposed to high levels of radioactive lead; and, likely, other radioactive contaminants; from Coldwater Creek, which has remained
unremediated since the 1940’s. These unremediated radioactive contaminants have been found inside Jana Elementary School and outside on the playground. Such contamination, and the threat it poses to School employees, to me, my family, my neighbors, and (especially to the children), is absolutely unacceptable! Please, you must demand an immediate cleanup of hazardous waste along Coldwater Creek and the adjacent neighborhoods (especially in and around Jana Elementary School) and ensure the safety of North County residents (especially our children). Thank you.
Larry Conant