Inside testing done, soil sampling begins at Missouri school

By JIM SALTER
Associated Press

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it has completed testing inside a Missouri school closed amid concerns of radioactive contamination, and sampling of soil outside the school has begun. A suburban St. Louis school board voted last week to close Jana Elementary School in Florissant, Missouri, after testing by a private firm found levels of radioactive isotope lead-210 that were 22 times the expected level on the kindergarten playground. It also found high levels of polonium, radium and other material inside the school. The school sits along Coldwater Creek, which was contaminated decades ago with Manhattan Project atomic waste.