Moab Uranium Project Safely Ships 14 Million Tons to Disposal Cell

(Moab, Utah) ― The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management’s (EM) Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project has achieved a cleanup milestone by safely shipping millions of tons of uranium mill tailings from the Moab, Utah, site.  As of October 26, 2023, 14 million tons of mill tailings have been shipped by rail and placed in an engineered disposal facility near Crescent Junction, Utah.

Mill tailings are a sand-like waste material that remains from conventional processing of uranium ore.  The Moab tailings are transported by locked, steel railcar containers to a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved disposal facility near Crescent Junction which is located 30 miles north of the Moab site.  

After tailings are placed in the disposal cell, it is capped with multi-layers of locally sourced soils and rock.  In addition to relocating the tailings, active remediation of the site’s groundwater is taking place using extraction and injection wells to protect the Colorado River. 
 

Contact: Barbara Michel, Moab UMTRA Project Public Affairs Specialist, (970) 257-2121

– DOE –