“The report should allay the worst fears being spread by alarmists,” Republic Services spokesman Russ Knocke said. “It should reassure the community that they are safe from and not being exposed to any risk from groundwater beneath West Lake Landfill.”

The Missouri Coalition for the Environment highlighted the portion of the report that suggested some of the highest radium concentrations could be due to runoff spreading radioactive material off site. Ed Smith, who follows the site for the group, also said in a statement that the report didn’t take into consideration that the material will grow more toxic over thousands of years of radioactive decay.

The USGS cautioned that data are limited about naturally occurring radium in the area, but it said the landfill’s radioactive waste as a possible addition still couldn’t be ruled out.

It noted that radium samples from the Bridgeton Landfill were in the range of a study of a Pennsylvania landfill, which had no radiological material, and some of the radium concentration could be due to other municipal and solid wastes.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has already detected higher levels of benzene and other chemicals in groundwater from the Bridgeton Landfill, which is smoldering and leaching more liquid than usual. The owner, Republic Services, has recently installed a treatment plant and pipes to control the contaminated liquid.

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