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article on Moab Utah Uranium Tailings
davidorr@aol.com wrote:
> http://www.sltrib.com/06142002/utah/745333.htm
>
> Scientific Panel Wants More Tailings Data
> Friday, June 14, 2002
>
> BY JIM WOOLF
> THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
>
> MOAB -- There is not yet enough information to determine whether the
> 12 million tons of uranium mill tailings piled on the banks of the
> Colorado River here should be capped in place or moved to a new disposal
> site about 20 miles away.
>
> That was the conclusion of a report presented Thursday by a team of
> the nation's top scientists assembled by the National Research Council, a
> group that gives scientific advice to Congress.
>
> They called for a "focused" study to quickly answer the remaining
> technical questions.
>
> The recommendation means the federal government may delay its plan to
> decide the pile's fate by November, said Joel Berwick, cleanup project
> manager for the U.S. Department of Energy.
>
> It could take up to 18 months to find the answers raised by the
> scientists, he said.
>
> The mildly radioactive tailings were left behind by the old Atlas
> Corp. uranium mill. The company declared bankruptcy several years ago and
> the DOE now is responsible for cleaning up the site.
>
> By way of comparison, 12 million tons is roughly six times the weight
> of the debris cleaned up after the collapse of the World Trade Centers.
>
> Most of the elected leaders in Utah, Moab and states downstream that
> rely on the Colorado River for drinking water favor digging up the
> tailings and moving them to a remote area.
>
> That would reduce the risk of contaminating the river and remove an
> eyesore from this tourist-oriented community, they say.
>
> However, a preliminary study released last year estimated the cost of
> moving the sand-like material at $363 million, compared with only $114
> million to cap it in place. Some questioned whether the more expensive
> cleanup option was really necessary.
>
> Kai Lee, chairman of the National Research Council group studying the
> issue, told a group of about 50 Moab residents that cost of the
> alternatives is one of many questions that need to be resolved.
>
> "If you choose to do lower levels of remediation in the near term,
> such as by leaving the pile in place, that can typically increase the
> need for, importance of, and cost of long-term actions," he said.
>
> The committee questioned whether capping the tailings in place would
> actually be the cheapest alternative in the long run because of greater
> need for monitoring waste so close to the river and protecting it from
> flooding.
>
> The committee also questioned an assumption from previous studies
> that the Colorado River is unlikely to move its channel in this area and
> begin eroding the base of the tailings pile, currently 750 feet from the
> river's edge.
>
> If the river does not move, the risk of tailings eroding into the
> river is much lower.
>
> "While one cannot predict the timing of river migration [over the
> coming millennia or in the next several decades] the committee sees it as
> a near certainty that the river's course will run across the Moab site at
> some time in the future, unless engineered barriers prevent it from doing
> so," committee members wrote in their report.
>
> The cost of protecting the tailings if the river changes course needs
> to be studied, said the scientists.
>
> The committee also said too little information has been gathered
> about the proposed new disposal site 20 miles north of the river to
> determine whether it is a viable alternative.
>
> Dianne Nielson, director of the Utah Department of Environmental
> Quality, described the report's recommendations as important because they
> will help provide a better scientific basis for the cleanup decision.
>
> (C) Copyright 2002, The Salt Lake Tribune
>
> ----
>
-
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