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1. Is any of the Moab site open for public use?

None of the Moab site is currently open for public use.

2. Is it safe to camp near the Moab site?

The campgrounds located near the Moab site are a safe distance from the tailings pile. Radon monitoring data collected from the nearest designated campground location show that radon concentrations in the vicinity are indistinguishable from naturally occurring background concentrations, indicating that the tailings pile has little discernable effect on radon concentrations at the campground.

3. Is it safe to raft down the Colorado River or ride my bicycle on Potash Road past the Moab site?

Yes. The main potential health risks associated with mill tailings are from long-term (decades) exposure to low levels of gamma radiation and radon gas, a decay product of uranium, and process-related waste materials. Citizens recreating near the site boundary, for example rafting on the Colorado River or mountain biking along Potash Road, need not be concerned about exposure to radon or gamma radiation.

Two of the risk drivers for exposure to low-level radioactive material are distance from the radioactive source and duration of the exposure. Recreational users of the Colorado River or Potash Road are far enough from the pile that radon and gamma radiation are at background levels at these locations. Recreationalists further reduce their risk by the short duration of the exposure.

4. Is the site open to the public for tours?

No, the site is closed to the public. Tours are occasionally provided to specific groups on a prearranged basis.

5. The wind tends to blow frequently in the Moab area. Is the dust I see coming from the Moab site radioactive and is it harmful to breathe?

Some of
the dust you see coming from the Moab site contains particles from the uranium
mill tailings pile. Radioactive particulate material (radioparticulates) and
gamma radiation is measured at monitoring stations located around the Moab site
and at various off-site locations. Although the annual readings at several
on-site locations is greater than the U.S. Department of Energy limit of 100 millirems
per year (mrem/yr) above background, no member of the public occupies any
of these locations for a sufficient amount of time that would cause the
individual to receive a dose in excess of the annual limit. In addition, the total
effective dose to the maximally exposed individual, or the representative person
or group from the public likely to receive the most radiation dose based on
exposure pathways and parameters, is well below the 100 mrem/yr above
background limit. Dust-generating activities at the Moab site are shut down at
sustained wind speeds exceeding 20 miles per hour.

6. What are uranium mill tailings?

“Tailings” is the term applied to mined ore from which the desired (valuable) components have been removed by the milling process. Uranium mill tailings are simply the milled (crushed) ore from which most of the uranium and vanadium, naturally occurring Earth elements that are radioactive, have been removed. Because most of these elements have been removed, the tailings contain low levels of radioactivity.

7. What does U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plan to do with the site?

Through a public input process, DOE determined that the mill tailings pile and tailings-contaminated materials should be relocated to an alternate location for long-term impoundment. The tailings will be relocated 30 miles north to a permanent disposal cell to be constructed at Crescent Junction, Utah.

The materials will be transported in covered containers predominantly by rail. In addition, the ground water beneath the Moab site will be addressed and the site will be reclaimed to a natural appearance.

View a map of where the contaminated tailings will be relocated for long-term impoundment.

8. What is that huge pile of dirt northwest of Moab?

That “pile” consists of the mill tailings and tailings-contaminated materials left over from the uranium-ore processing operations that were conducted by Uranium Reduction Company and later Atlas Minerals Corporation between 1956 and 1984. The pile is the prominent feature of the Moab UMTRA Project site (Moab site) that is now owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and is being managed for the purpose of remediation. The site is located almost 3 miles northwest of the City of Moab and encompasses approximately 400 acres; the 130-acre uranium mill tailings pile occupies much of the western portion of the site.

9. What will U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) do to control dust during remediation of the pile? How will emissions be monitored?

Windblown tailings could create fugitive dust emissions. An effective dust control system is currently in place and will continue to be implemented during remedial activities. Water for dust control is stored in a tank or in a freshwater storage pond and is applied using water trucks or water wagons. Non-hazardous dust suppressants such as calcium chloride solution, stored in tanks, are also used. 

Personnel certified in reading opacity measurements monitor visible emissions to determine when active dust control measures (e.g. application of water) should be initiated and when dust-generating activities (e.g. excavating, hauling, grading) should be discontinued to maintain 20 percent or less opacity.

10. Where can I find out more information about the Moab UMTRA Project?

Documents related to the project and other information is available on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) website or at the Moab UMTRA Project public reading rooms located at:

Grand County Library

257 E. Center St.
Moab, Utah

Ph: 435-259–1111

Library Hours
Monday - Friday
9 a.m. - 8 p.m.

Saturday
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sunday & Legal Holidays
Closed

11. Who owns the Moab site?

Through congressional legislation, ownership of the site was transferred to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in October 2001. The DOE office in Grand Junction, Colorado, administers the site.