Environmental assessment of remedial action at the Naturita Uranium processing site near Naturita, Colorado. Revision 1

Technical Report · Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10184936· OSTI ID:10184936

The proposed remedial action for the Naturita processing site is relocation of the contaminated materials and debris to the Dry Flats disposal site, 6 road miles (mi) [ 1 0 kilometers (km)] to the southeast. At the disposal site, the contaminated materials would be stabilized and covered with layers of earth and rock. The proposed disposal site is on land administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and used primarily for livestock grazing. The final disposal site would cover approximately 57 ac (23 ha), which would be permanently transferred from the BLM to the DOE and restricted from future uses. The remedial action activities would be conducted by the DOE`s Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project. The remedial action would result in the loss of approximately 164 ac (66 ha) of soils, but 132 ac (53 ha) of these soils are contaminated and cannot be used for other purposes. Another 154 ac (62 ha) of soils would be temporarily disturbed. Approximately 57 ac (23 ha) of open range land would be permanently removed from livestock grazing and wildlife use. The removal of the contaminated materials would affect the 1 00-year floodplain of the San Miguel River and would result in the loss of riparian habitat along the river. The southwestern willow flycatcher, a Federal candidate species, may be affected by the remedial action, and the use of water from the San Miguel River ``may affect`` the Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, bonytail chub, and razorback sucker. Traffic levels on State Highways 90 and 141 would be increased during the remedial action, as would the noise levels along these transportation routes. Measures for mitigating the adverse environmental impacts of the proposed remedial action are discussed in Section 6.0 of this environmental assessment (EA).

• Research Organization: USDOE Albuquerque Operations Office, NM (United States). Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project Office; Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-91AL62350
• OSTI ID: 10184936
• Report Number(s): DOE/EA-0464-Rev.1; ON: DE93041037; TRN: 93:022940
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: Aug 1993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
FEED MATERIALS PLANTS
ABANDONED SITES
REMEDIAL ACTION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
COLORADO
MILL TAILINGS
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
CONTAMINATION
SOILS
STABILIZATION
RIVERS
FISHES
HABITAT
NOISE POLLUTION
REMOVAL
054000
540250
053002
HEALTH AND SAFETY
SITE RESOURCE AND USE STUDIES
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS