Sixteen tons of radioactive uranium tailings once sat near the banks of the Colorado River, putting the waterway in peril of contamination on the outskirts of Moab. Removal began in 2009 and was halted for a time due to lack of funding for the U.S.
Department of Energy cleanup project, but work is continuing at a steady clip — with nearly 15 tons shipped by rail to a disposal cell about 30 miles away at Crescent Junction. At this rate, the tailings removal may be completed by next year, but much work remains to be done afterward for full remediation of the area in which the uranium mill operated for nearly three decades. Area residents and Grand County officials have lofty goals for the future of the site: a beautiful riverfront park, perhaps an amphitheater.
Mary McGann, a Grand County commissioner who heads up the steering committee involved in the project, said she envisions something similar to It, too, was a remediation site for tailings removal and it, too, is adjacent to the Colorado River. Grand County officials have visited that site for ideas and another trip is planned this fall. The local steering committee includes a subcommittee for “future site” development.
“It’s a wonderful park and we want to do something similar to that,” she said. Contamination from what the locals call “The Pile” has been a problem for the Colorado River in Grand County — before the establishment of the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action, or UMTRA, Project. But t.