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Radioactive mill tailings still an issue | GJFreePress.com
Whose responsibility is it to notify prospective homebuyers when there is radioactive uranium mill tailings on a property?
Erin Toll, director of Colorado's Division of Real Estate, said it's the responsibility of real estate agents.
The Division of Real Estate is the licensing, regulation and enforcement agency for the real estate industry in Colorado.
Mill tailings are “absolutely an adverse material fact that brokers would be required to disclose if they knew about it,” Toll said.
And if they don't know they should, Toll said.
“Most brokers are aware of environmental impacts of the region they serve, even without the training,” that the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is currently conducting, Toll said.
Deseret News | Tailings spill shuts down EnergySolutions project until Tuesday
A truck carrying uranium mill tailings from a Moab cleanup project headed by EnergySolutions tipped over and spilled some of the radioactive dirt last Wednesday.
The multimillion-dollar cleanup project directed at properly disposing of the 16 million tons of uranium tailings was suspended until Tuesday for a safety evaluation, EnergySolutions spokesman Mark Walker said.
"Safety is always our first priority," Walker said. "It's a self-imposed shutdown."
EnergySolutions, which was awarded the project nearly 18 months ago to haul the tailings 30 miles north of Moab, had been carting dirt up a haul road at the site Wednesday evening when the driver came too close to the shoulder and the truck tipped over, Walker said.
Work to remove uranium waste in Utah picking up - Salt Lake Tribune
The job of moving 16 million tons of radioactive waste from the shores of the Colorado River in southern Utah is picking up steam.
The U.S. Department of Energy says more than 330,000 tons of uranium tailings have been hauled away from a huge pile near Moab and deposited in disposal pits 30 miles to the north.
Crews began running two trainloads a day in August, doubling the amount of waste shipped to Crescent Junction each day.
Project manager Donald Metzler says the pace will pick up even more next month with longer trains and more container cars.
The work is part of a $1 billion project to clear away a 130-acre heap of waste left behind after the closure of a uranium mill in 1984. The project could be completed by 2022 or earlier if additional funds are secured.
Update: EnergySolutions Moab Project Receives American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Funding of Nearly $23 Million
EnergySolutions, Inc. (NYSE: ES) announced today that $22.9 million of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding has been allocated to the Moab UMTRA project. The total amount of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding for the Moab project is $108 million. The funding is being used to accelerate removal of uranium mill tailings away from the banks of the Colorado River. Thus far 160 jobs have been created this year as a result of Recovery Act funding.
"We are thrilled that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated sufficient funding to the Moab project to accelerate the cleanup of the site. This is great news for the community and for all who use the Colorado River and Lake Powell," said Steve Creamer, CEO and Chairman of EnergySolutions.
The Recovery Act funding is being used to excavate, transport and dispose of additional mill tailings from the Moab site to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved disposal cell at Crescent Junction. This additional work began in June and will continue through September 2011. Additionally, this additional funding supports increasing the size of the disposal cell as well as crushing, transporting, and placing final rock cover on the disposal cell. This portion of the work began in August and continues through September 2011.
Sixteen million tons of uranium mill tailings will eventually be relocated 30 miles north of Moab to a location designated by the DOE.
A dubious decision
There’s no legal problem here, officials with the U.S. Department of Energy say. Storing mercury at a federal site south of Whitewater won’t violate the terms of an agreement the DOE signed with Mesa County more than a decade ago, a top official with the agency said.
Well, that’s a relief, at least to federal officials eager to find a permanent disposal site for thousands of tons of mercury. But it’s not very reassuring to Mesa County residents who believed they had a commitment from the DOE years ago to keep the site near Whitewater free of additional hazardous wastes.
That desert disposal site, originally known as Cheney Reservoir, was created to store millions of tons of low-level radioactive waste in the form of mill tailings from uranium milling that occurred in Grand Junction in the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.
EPA to oversee contaminated Navajo soil cleanup
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with United Nuclear Corp. and its parent company, General Electric Co., to clean up soil near the most badly contaminated former uranium mine on the Navajo Nation.
Rain and flash floods carry the radium-contaminated soil from the abandoned Northeast Church Rock Mine near Gallup, N.M., down an arroyo where children play and livestock graze.
Long-term exposure to such soil can lead to cataracts, fractured teeth and cancer, according to the EPA.
Under the agreement announced this week, United Nuclear will remove 3 to 13 feet of soil from the arroyo and surrounding areas and bring in clean dirt. The company also will regrade a uranium waste pile so that it drains back to the mine instead of where people live.
ksl.com - Feds speeding up removal of Moab uranium tailings
Work to remove 16 million tons of radioactive waste away from the tourist town of Moab is about to go a little faster.
The U.S. Department of Energy says it plans to double the amount of uranium tailings removed each day from the shores of the Colorado River.
Right now, rail cars take about 2,800 tons of tailings a day to a dump site 30 miles away, where they're placed in specially designed cells. The DOE says a second train will be added in mid-August.
Deseret News | Stimulus is speeding tailings removal
A new report by the Department of Energy on the Moab tailings project says an average of 12,000 tons of contaminated dirt are being shipped to a nearby disposal site each week and by late June, more than 100,000 tons have been removed.
Federal stimulus money and an extra allocation from the Omnibus Appropriation Act infused an additional $118 million to the project to accelerate the timeline of the cleanup.
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said the funding boost is critical, given the severity of contamination at the former Atlas mine northwest of Moab.
"The danger posed by this unstable site is clear," he said. "It is a risk not only to Moab but to millions of downstream water users. It's important that this threat is removed as quickly as possible."
Video: Uranium Tailings May Threaten Moab River - KSTU
MOAB, Utah - Although millions of tons of Uranium tailings have been removed, some citizens of Moab are concerned that the remaining tailings may contaminate the nearby Colorado river. The river runs through town and a potential contaminatino could jeapordize drinking water. Energy Solutions were contracted to remove the mounds of tailings in 2007. "Were were moving it is to an environmentally stable location, 30 miles north of the town of Moab to a stable environment where that material can sit for thousands of years," says Energy Solutions' Project Manager, Larry Brede.
Gallup Independent: Churchrock cleanup begins: URI assessment looks for radiation hot spots
Uranium Resources Inc. and Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency began a weeklong assessment Monday of Section 17 in Churchrock where its subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc., has proposed in situ mining of uranium.
Rick Van Horn, chief operating officer for URI/HRI, said Tuesday that the two entities are looking at what the radiation values are and how they impact the air, soils, and water in the area of Section 17.
As part of the field work, background levels will be established under the review of Navajo EPA. “We have people that are looking over our shoulders providing oversight on-site, real time, and that will be part of the data set that we collect,” Van Horn said.
Deseret News | Director of Moab disposal is tireless stickler for details
Now, like a conductor, he directs the efforts of more than 150 people at the Moab tailings project and Crescent Junction Disposal Site, and 25 more at the Department of Energy's office in Grand Junction, Colo., where he makes his home.
The goal is overwhelmingly simple on its face — the removal of 16 million tons of mining waste — but deceptively complex because of the risk to workers and the community due to the waste's radioactive nature.
Kyrgyzstan Drafts Plan to Address Soviet-Era Uranium Waste
(ENS) - Radioactive dust, contaminated groundwater and toxic landslides and floods threaten more than a million people in Central Asia, warned experts at a conference last week.
The radioactive threat stems from 92 toxic waste sites in Kyrgyzstan that contain tailings, or waste, from uranium mining during the Soviet era.
In addition to Kyrgyzstan, neighboring Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are also vulnerable to the radioactive material.
"The state of these tailings, which contain large amounts of highly toxic wastes of uranium - over the tens of years since the shutdown of the facilities, has significantly worsened," Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiev cautioned in a speech at the conference.
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Now, landslides and earthquakes threaten to wash huge quantities of uranium waste into the Ferghana Valley's Syr Darya River.
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Deseret News | Crescent Junction site quietly taking the 'Pile'
Motorists whipping past along I-70 see only the turnoff for Moab at the sign that says Crescent Junction. But a little to the north, a train sits on the railroad tracks, and oversize trucks unload rail cars.
From there containers of the radioactive waste that are the legacy of a bankrupt uranium mine are unloaded one after the other, filling up a disposal cell that will trap the tailings for years to come.
Much was celebrated Monday to the south on the outskirts of Moab at the former Atlas mine site, where full-time operations to remove the waste have been under way since mid-April.
Deseret News | It's a 'go' for tailings cleanup
More than half a century ago, an unemployed geologist stumbled across the country's largest deposit of high-grade uranium in southeastern Utah.
The result of that discovery fueled a thriving industry for Moab at the time, but left a legacy of 16 million tons of uranium tailings that currently threaten the Colorado River.
Today is a celebratory landmark in the cleanup process at the former Atlas mill site, where 22 rail cars hauling 88 containers of the waste will head 30 miles north to Crescent Junction to a disposal site.
The site is 1700 feet longs, 1800 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. Trucks carrying the material dump it into the disposal site, where a front end loader make several passes to pack the bright red dirt, which is full of tailings.
Uranium pile outside Moab ready to be moved - Salt Lake Tribune
Monday is moving day for the Atlas Corp. tailings pile outside of Moab.
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and representatives of four congressional offices assembled in Moab for a ribbon-cutting for the uranium waste removal project.
Huntsman called it a great day. "The people of Moab and Grand County made it their priority." They dogged every federal official who came to town, the governor said. "For them, it was a matter of pride, for them, it was a matter of health and the environment."
Moving the 16 million tons of uranium processing waste is expected to cost around $1 billion and to take at least 10 years. The pile is being hauled by rail 42 miles north to a specially constructed landfill north of Interstate 80 at Crescent Junction.
Deseret News | Removal of uranium tailings begins near Moab
The first trainload of radioactive uranium tailings has been taken from a dump site near Moab and moved to a disposal cell 30 miles away.
Cleanup of the 16 million-ton tailings pile was accelerated with a $108 million infusion from the Obama administration's economic-stimulus package last month.
The tailings, from the now-defunct Atlas uranium mill, have posed a threat of leaching radioactive waste into the Colorado River, prompting urgent requests for removal by Utah's congressional delegation.
An announcement Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Energy said the first trainload of tailings departed from the 439-acre site Monday for Crescent Junction. The tailings cover about 139 acres.
ksl.com - Uranium on its way out of Moab
After decades of controversy, a huge pile of radioactive waste near Moab is finally on the move. A train load of waste is expected to pull out of Moab Monday evening -- the first of thousands of trains over the next decade or two.
The pile of red dirt blends into the red rock scenery so well, it's hard to make out how big it is, but "big" is the word. There are 130 acres of uranium mill tailings, 16 million tons of radioactive waste.
Many Moab residents will be glad to get rid of it. "This is one of the happiest days in our town's history, actually," said Mayor David Sakrison.
The waste is being loaded into sealed containers and hauled by truck to a nearby railroad. Trains will haul the waste 30 miles north, nearly a train a day for at least 10 years. Near Crescent Junction on Interstate 70, the radioactive red dirt will be placed in a covered disposal cell.
Deseret News | Stimulus to help remove Moab tailings
The Obama administration decided Tuesday to use a big chunk of the economic stimulus package to accelerate removal of the Atlas uranium mill tailings near Moab, which have threatened to leach radioactive waste into the Colorado River.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that of the $6 billion that the stimulus package gave the Energy Department to accelerate environmental cleanup work, he is allocating $108 million to the Moab project.
That had Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, almost shouting for joy. He has fought the Energy Department under previous leadership for years to accelerate the project and was told as late as a month ago that it might not be completed for another 20 years because of lack of funds. Such lack of funds is apparently no longer a problem for now.
Uranium mine water leak concerning, govt says (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
The Northern Territory Government says it will speak to mining company ERA and the office of the Commonwealth Supervising Scientist about contaminated water leaking from the Ranger Uranium Mine.
About 100,000 litres of contaminated water is seeping from a tailings dam at the mine every day.
Environmentalists are calling for the mine's planned expansion to be put on hold.
Cañon City Daily Record - Cotter preparing commitment letter
Plant will close its 40-acre secondary impoundment pond
Cotter has committed to close its 40-acre secondary impoundment pond with its recent license amendment with the state, plant manager John Hamrick told the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund Community Advisory Group on Thursday.
About 20 people gathered at Garden Park High School for the monthly CAG meeting.
Hamrick said the agreement also calls for Cotter to establish a timeline for certain actions, including a March 31 deadline for a commitment letter. That document will detail Cotter’s plans to either close its uranium plant south of Cañon City, the site of a Superfund cleanup, or retool it for continued production.
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