Moab UMTRA Project

One of Stoller’s most significant tasks under its Technical Assistance Contract to the DOE Office of Legacy Management was the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) project. By virtue of a 1978 Act of Congress – the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act - the Department of Energy is required to stabilize, dispose of, and control uranium mill tailings and related contaminated material at many former uranium mill processing sites and their vicinity properties across the nation, mainly in the southwest.

The Moab Project Site (formerly known as the Atlas millsite) is a former uranium ore-processing facility located about three miles northwest of the City of Moab in Grand County, Utah. The site is situated on the west bank of the Colorado River and is less than one mile from the entrance to the Arches National Park. The site encompasses approximately 400 acres and includes a 130-acre uranium mill tailings pile. Cleanup of the Moab site became controversial because of the involvement of five states downstream of the site on the Colorado River. The States’ concern was that, if the tailings were capped in-place, they would contaminate water supplies. The site’s location, the nearby national park, and the interest of several Native American tribes, also complicated the site’s cleanup.

Beginning in 2003, Stoller and its subcontractors prepared an environmental impact statement (EIS) considering cleanup options. The draft EIS considered capping the tailings pile in-place or relocating the tailings to other locations. The final EIS, released in July 2005, included 12 cooperating agencies, including federal, state, local, and tribal agencies. Chris Clayton, DOE’s Office of Policy and Site Transition stated, “Overall, the report was excellent and extremely thorough. It is one of the best EISs that I have reveiwed.”

In September 2005, the DOE selected a cleanup alternative to move the disposal cell location 30 miles north at Crescent Junction, Utah beginning in 2007. DOE requested temporary withdrawal of approximately 2,300 acres of public domain lands near Crescent Junction for construction of the disposal cell and surrounding buffer zone, as well as areas needed for construction support purposes.

Stoller’s Moab team was responsible for several on-site activities. They performed maintenance of erosion protection measures, storm water prevention plan activities, and health and safety oversight of the field work, which included operating groundwater monitoring and treatment systems, tailings pile dewatering, and soil remediation of both on-site and nearby vicinity properties.

More information about the Moab project can be found at http://gj.em.doe.gov/moab.