St. Louis, Missouri

Building 51 at Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, where uranium enrichment occurred.

Library of Congress

Mallinckrodt Chemical Works

St. Louis during the Manhattan Project saw the construction of Mallinckrodt Chemical Works, a massive uranium enrichment facility that produced the enriched uranium throughout the project, including for the Chicago Pile experiment at the Metallurgical Laboratory on the campus of the University of Chicago in 1942. The Chicago Pile, envisioned by physicist Enrico Fermi, was the first ever self-sustaining nuclear reactor in the world.

Infamously however, Mallinckrodt Chemical Works is remembered for storing radioactive waste near the St. Louis-Lambert Airport from 1947 until the late 1960s, when the waste was then purchased by the Continental Mining and Milling Company, moved one half mile from the airport, and improperly stored along Coldwater Creek. This improper storage resulted in radioactive contamination of the creek and surrounding area. Many families that lived along the creek have since experienced increased rates of cancer and other ailments. Since 1990, several federal agencies have been responsible for the cleanup of the contamination, with cleanup and mitigation still occurring today.

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