Cleaning up the Streets of Denver

Conference · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2006

OSTI ID:21208749

Stegen, R L; Wood, T R; Hackett, J R ^[1]; Sogue, A ^[2]

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1. Parsons, 1700 Broadway, Suite 900, Denver, Colorado 80290 (United States)
2. City and County of Denver, 201 West Colfax, Denver, Colorado 80202 (United States)

Between 1913 and 1924, several Denver area facilities extracted radium from carnotite ore mined from the Paradox basin region of Colorado. Tailings or abandoned ores from these facilities were apparently incorporated into asphalt used to pave approximately 7.2 kilometers (4.5 miles) of streets in Denver. A majority of the streets are located in residential areas. The radionuclides are bound within the asphalt matrix and pose minimal risk unless they are disturbed. The City and County of Denver (CCoD) is responsible for controlling repairs and maintenance on these impacted streets. Since 2002, the CCoD has embarked on a significant capital improvement project to remove the impacted asphalt for secure disposal followed by street reconstruction. To date, Parsons has removed approximately 55 percent of the impacted asphalt. This paper discusses the history of the Denver Radium Streets and summarizes on-going project efforts. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 13023, Tucson, AZ, 85732-3023 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21208749
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--09-WM-06299
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
ASPHALTS
CARNOTITE
COLORADO
HAZARDS
PARADOX BASIN
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIUM
TAILINGS