By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A long-contaminated piece of land near Lambert Airport in St. Louis is now clean and ready for redevelopment.
Next week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will mark the formal end of the removal of radioactive contamination dating back to the development of atomic weapons for World War II.
Major Jason Teliafaro, with the Corps, says the project is one of the largest environmental cleanups in Missouri and has taken decades to complete.
"It's actually going to get a clean bill of health for all intents and purposes and it'll be turned back over to the St. Louis airport authority for them to do with what they see fit, be it put something on it or just let it sit there," Teliafaro said.
Teliafaro says 50,000 drums of residue, 3,500 tons of contaminated steel and more than 600,000 cubic yards of tainted soil have been removed from the airport site.