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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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