EM’s Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project shipped more than 1 million tons of mill tailings for disposal in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the largest annual amount since fiscal 2012.
Office of Environmental Management
October 19, 2021
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MOAB, Utah – EM’s Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project shipped more than 1 million tons of mill tailings for disposal in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the largest annual amount since fiscal 2012.
“One million tons in a year is a major accomplishment for the project,” Moab Project Federal Cleanup Director Russell McCallister said. “Even more, we accomplished this goal despite the unique challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Moab Project, which started in 2009, is charged with moving mill tailings from the Moab Site, near the Colorado River, to a permanent disposal cell about 30 miles north of Moab in Crescent Junction, Utah. The tailings resulted from legacy uranium milling operations.
The Moab Project has also exceeded 1,800 workdays without a lost-time injury or illness.
“I’m proud that we’ve adhered to the highest standards of safety for our workers and the community,” McCallister said. “North Wind Portage really outdid themselves, showing incredible initiative and ingenuity by adding three additional railcars on the very space-limited rail bench. Each train shipment now includes twelve additional containers full of residual radioactive material.”
North Wind Portage is the Moab Project's remedial action contractor.
Mill tailings are a sand-like material that remain from processing uranium ore. Tailings are transported by rail in locked steel containers to Crescent Junction, where they are placed in the disposal cell.
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