Homes near St. Louis County creek are being tested after radioactive contamination found in yards

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal agency is examining soil beneath homes in a small suburban St. Louis subdivision to determine if residents are living atop Cold War era nuclear contamination. But activists say the testing needs to be far more widespread. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun testing six properties that sit near Coldwater Creek, a meandering waterway contaminated after nuclear waste was dumped there in the 1960s. Corps officials do not believe any other homes in the area need to be tested. Activists with Just Moms STL, a group that for decades has advocated for cleanup of nuclear waste sites, disagree, noting that the creek runs for several miles, with many homes backing up to it.