Uranium Tailings

Well the mosquitoes made it a little hard to sleep but I have been through worse things in my life. We tried to hike to the junction of the Green River and the Colorado River but the trail was closed. So we just did a quarter mile hike which was fun. We then headed back to Moab and went to an old uranium mine less than a mile from our campsite. Which had all of its tailings less then 30 feet away from the Colorado River. This is the same uranium that destroyed Japan and the same uranium that turned Chernobyl into a barren waste land. I know its not that serious but I think it is should be a little more protected than a huge pile next to the river. The uranium mine was discovered in 1952 and was in production until 1984. the crazy thing is that all of their radioactive slurry was put in an pond, that was not lined with anything, and a 90 foot high radioactive tailing pile right next to the river. It is believed to be leaching into river, which has lead to high concentrations of ammonia and has caused a negative impact on the fish in the area.

In 2005 the Department of Energy announced that it was going to move 11.9 million tons of the tailings to a lined hole 30 miles away onto public land in Crescent Junction, Utah. At first the relocation was expected cost 300 million dollars, now estimates are over 720 million dollars (Salt Lake Tribune). By March of 2010 1 million tons have already been shipped (DoE).

Citations:

"First Million Tons of Moab Tailings Shipped to Crescent Junction for Disposal." U.S Deparment of Energy, 3 Mar. 2010. Web.

http://www.em.doe.gov/pdfs/1MTons_newsrel.pdf

"Let's Move It: Atlas Tailings Should Be Transported Quickly." The Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Aug. 2008. Web.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10144500

Picture Citations:

"Moab Tailings." Tom Till. Associated Press. Web. 2008.

http://www.deseretnews.com/photos/midres/5837965.jpg