By Kevin Lavery, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A new memorial unveiled Tuesday at the former Weldon Spring site in St. Charles County honors workers exposed to radiation during the Cold War.
For two decades, hundreds of Mallinckrodt Chemical Company employees at three sites processed uranium ore to make nuclear weapons. Many developed cancer, and some died.
Workers' advocate Denise Brock says the memorial shows their place in history.
"They will never be forgotten; I mean not just with us, but it's historic," Brock said. "I mean children come to see this; and we also know that a documentary is probably going to be produced as well, and so that would go into it."
Brock's father worked at the St. Louis Mallinckrodt site and died in 1978. Denise Brock now heads up the memorial project and oversees an organization called The United Nuclear Weapons Workers.
The memorial is in a building near a large containment dome that houses spent radioactive materials. Anti-nuclear activist Kay Drey says while the display is appropriate, its location is not.
"This bunker, 45 acres, seven stories high, is full of very, very radioactive material," Drey said. "And it's not going to stay protected very long; I'm sure there's radon gas getting out already. So it's not a place where people should be encouraged to come."
Earlier this month, Congress authorized compensatory payment for a group of workers employed at the company's downtown plant in the 1950's.