Cleaning Up Inactive Uranium Mill Tailings Sites

Twenty-two uranium mills have been closed down since the 1940's, resulting in about 25 million tons of radioactive sand-like waste, called uranium mill tailings, in unattended piles and ponds. According to the Department of Energy, these tailings are a potential health hazard. The Residual Radioactive Materials Act of 1978 would provide for a joint Federal-State remedial action program in which the Federal Government would pay up to 75 percent of the cost of cleaning up these tailing sites and the States would contribute the rest. The bill provides for Federal payment of 100 percent of costs when the sites are located on Indian lands. The advantages of such a program include reducing a possible health hazard to the public, taking a first step toward resolving some of the problems involved in safely disposing of radioactive wastes, and improving the depressed value of some lands on which tailings are located. Disadvantages involve: estimated costs of up to $126 million with the Federal Government bearing the heaviest burden; the program could be considered a precedent for the Government to pay for cleaning up other nuclear facilities; and the technology to stabilize the mill tailings has not been fully developed. Assuming that existing technology for cleaning up mill tailings is adequate, the proposed legislation should accomplish the objective of cleaning up the abandoned mill tailings. The following areas in the legislation need to be clarified: time limits for State participation, exclusion of some mill sites from the program, ownership of some mill sites, costs to be borne by participating governments, and reports to the Congress.