Government will move nuclear waste near Colorado River

[Judi Lynn]

April 7, 2005

Government will move nuclear waste near Colorado River

BY TRAVIS REED
Associated Press Writer

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Department of Energy announced Wednesday it will move millions of tons of radioactive uranium processing waste off the banks of the Colorado River near Moab.

The radioactive tailings are from the only decommissioned uranium mill overseen by the Energy Department that hasn't yet been cleaned up.

About 12 million tons of waste sit in a floodplain, 750 feet from the banks of the Colorado, which provides drinking water to an estimated 25 million people in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and other cities throughout the Southwest.

The department said in a prepared statement that its final environmental impact statement for the site several miles northwest of Moab would recommend moving the tailings to an alternate site about 30 miles north in Crescent Junction.
(snip/...)

http://www.cortezjournal.com/asp-bin/article_generation.asp?article_type=news&article_path=/news/05/news050407_4.htm

[OneBlueSky]

1. now there's some sophisticated thinking for you . . .

if anything goes wrong, instead of the contamination being confined to a resricted area, it can flow downstream and impact everyone and everything anywhere near the river . . .

brilliant . . . just fuckin' brilliant . . .

[jpak]

2. And will the DOE (taxpayers) bill the company that created this mess????

Nope...

The cost of clean-up is estimated to be ~$450 million. What was the value of uranium produced at this mine???

If the cost of clean-up is greater than the value of uranium produced, is this a good deal for American taxpayers (and energy consumers)????