OF-82-02 Potential Sites Suitable for Relocation and/or Reprocessing of the Grand Junction and Rifle Uranium Mill Tailings Piles

Potential sites suitable for relocation and/or reprocessing of the Grand Junction and Rifle uranium mill tailings piles. 167 pages. Digital PDF download. OF-82-02D

Excerpt from the Abstract:

This report describes the procedure and results of a regional search for sites that appear to be suitable for the relocation and/or reprocessing of the Grand Junction and Rifle uranium mill tailings piles. This search identified nine potential sites within the study area that are herein offered to the Candidate Site Review Committee for further consideration. All sites are entirely on Federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. All nine sites can be used for joint disposal of the uranium tailings in both Grand Junction and Rifle.

A comprehensive site selection process was used to identify the recommended potential sites. Geotechnical characteristics were a primary element of this analysis. All potential sites appear to be geotechnically acceptable for tailings disposal, based on information available for the preparation of this report. Additional geotechnical data will need to be collected and evaluated during later phases to assure long-term containment of the tailings. A number of other factors, such as transportation and land use, were also considered in the analysis. Sites with obvious severe transportation hazards were automatically eliminated. Likewise, sites judged to be in prime growth areas, near heavily populated areas, or in prime irrigated agricultural areas were also dropped. Sites in National Parks, National Monuments, Wildlife Refuges, wilderness areas, and wild and scenic river areas were also eliminated. These criteria and the results are presented in the report.