Grand Junction, Colorado (Umtra Site)

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The former Grand Junction mill site (also known as the Climax Millsite) is a 46-hectare (114-acre) site in Mesa County, located in an industrial area of the City of Grand Junction, Colorado on the north bank of the Colorado River. It contained one large tailings pile and a remaining mill building.

Estimated Site Total

(Thousands of Current Year Dollars)
	FY 1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Environmental Restoration	20,713	19,935	18,946	6,593	1,512	Grey shaded area reflects annual cost estimates for the first five years of the site BEMR Base Case (as of October 1995) and includes 3% annual inflation, see Readers' Guide.
1996 Appropriation	15,036			These levels reflect the current estimates for compliance with applicable statutes and agreements (as of March 1996), see Readers' Guide.
1997 Congressional Request		11,578
(Five-Year Averages, Thousands of Constant 1996 Dollars)
	FY 1996-2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025	2030	Life Cycle*
Environmental Restoration	13,060	992	611					73,317
* Total Life Cycle is the sum of the annual costs in constant FY 1996 dollars.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Grand Junction mill site was to provide uranium for the United States Government. The source of contamination was the residual tailings remaining after the uranium was extracted during the milling process. In 1951, Climax Uranium Company, a division of American Metals Climax (now known as AMAX, Inc.), started milling operations at the site; the mill was shut down in March 1970. After the mill shutdown, 34 hectares (85 acres) were developed into an industrial park, 16 hectares (40 acres) were deeded to the State of Colorado as a repository for tailings from vicinity property remedial action projects in the Grand Junction area, and 4 hectares (10 acres) were sold to a private citizen. The State of Colorado presently owns the majority of the designated tailings site. Three hectares (seven acres) are under private ownership.

The Environmental Management program is responsible for cleaning up surface- and ground-water contamination at the UMTRA sites. The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act designated the residual radioactive material found at this site for cleanup and stabilization. The Act directed the Environmental Protection Agency to promulgate standards (Code of Federal Regulations Title 40, Part 192) and the Department of Energy to perform the cleanup. It also assigned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to oversee and certify the cleanup and license the completed disposal cell.

FUTURE USE

The State of Colorado currently owns the former processing site. Following concurrence by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the adequacy of the remedial action, the State is free to retain the site or dispose of it in accordance with the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act. At this time, however, the State is proposing to assign ownership to the City of Grand Junction, with a public park as the likely projected future use. This report anticipates that the State of Colorado will impose land-use restrictions, as necessary, to protect the public health, safety, and the environment. The Bureau of Land Management transferred the disposal cell to the Department of Energy prior to remedial action. The disposal cell will be maintained in accordance with a license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Therefore, the offsite disposal cell will remain under Department of Energy Controlled Access for the life cycle of this estimate.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION

Surface remedial action has been completed and the source of contamination has been stabilized. However, residual milling-related contaminated ground water remains.

Environmental Restoration Activities Cost Estimate

(Five-Year Averages, Thousands of Constant 1996 Dollars)
	FY 1996-2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025	2030	Life Cycle*
UMTRA Surface
Assessment	509							2,545
Remedial Action	9,229							46,146
UMTRA Ground water
Assessment	264	102	63					2,144
Remedial Action	6	112	42					801
Direct Program Management/Support	3,053	778	505					21,681
Total	13,060	992	611					73,317
* Total Life Cycle is the sum of the annual costs in constant FY 1996 dollars.

Surface Project

The cleanup effort associated with the Grand Junction site has comprised remediation of tailings at the former processing site as well as remediation of over 4000 vicinity properties. All contaminated site materials were removed from the processing site by spring 1994, with site restoration (seeding and wetlands establishment) completed in August 1994. Approximately 3.1 million cubic meters (4.1 million cubic yards) of contaminated materials were transported 27 kilometers (17 miles) to the Cheney disposal cell. The capacity of the disposal cell is 3.4 million cubic meters (4.5 million cubic yards). The Completion Report describing these activities has been written and submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for review.

Some ongoing vicinity property cleanup continues in Mesa County, with materials transported to a reserved area of the Cheney disposal cell. The UMTRA Program is currently planning to accept vicinity property tailings until February 1998, with completion of the cell cover by September 1998. However, the Department of Energy is working closely with the State of Colorado and the City of Grand Junction to develop a Long-Term Radon Management program for disposition of additional vicinity property tailings past the FY 1998 cut-off date, while keeping within the cell capacity of 3.4 million cubic meters (4.5 million cubic yards). If that program is not implemented, then Nuclear Regulatory Commission site certification and licensing will occur in FY 1999, with transfer of the Cheney disposal cell to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program in early FY 2000.

Although all UMTRA sites require some vicinity property cleanup, no other single site has as many vicinity properties to clean up as Grand Junction. Additionally, the remediation of many of these vicinity properties is complex. For this reason, there are two remedial action contractors. One remedial action contractor is tasked with the remediation of the Grand Junction processing site tailings and another remedial action contractor, located in the Grand Junction Projects Office, is tasked with the remediation of the vicinity properties associated with the Grand Junction former processing site. The site remedial action contractors have trucked the tailings found at the vicinity properties to the processing site for transport to the Cheney disposal cell.

Major Surface Project Milestones

TASK	COMPLETION DATE Fiscal Year
Vicinity Property Remedial Action	1998
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issues General License	1999
Transfer Disposal Cell to Grand Junction Projects Office Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance Program	2000

The Grand Junction Remedial Action Plan outlined the necessary contaminant distribution and remediation. The Remedial Action Plan, which requires concurrence by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was published in December 1994.

The processing site has been fully characterized, and no further monitoring under the Surface Project is occurring. However, radiological monitoring is still being performed at the Cheney disposal cell to ensure that no contaminants are being released into the air during the vicinity property remediation efforts. In addition, several wells were placed adjacent to the disposal cell to monitor water quality.

The Long-Term Surveillance Plan, which describes how the disposal cell will be managed, will be written concurrently with the Cheney disposal cell Completion Report and final Audit Report. The latter two documents will be included as part of the Department of Energy's site Certification Report, which explains that the processing site has been cleaned up according to the provisions of the Remedial Action Plan. The site Certification Report and the Long-Term Surveillance Plan will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for concurrence as the first step towards licensing the Cheney disposal cell.

The UMTRA Surface Project will conduct surveillance and maintenance of the disposal cell after the completion of the remedial action and prior to its transfer to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program in FY 2000.

Ground-Water Compliance Project

The Department is developing a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement pertaining to all 24 UMTRA sites. (For a discussion of the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, see the UMTRA Program narrative in the New Mexico section of this report.) Site-specific National Environmental Policy Act documentation will be developed to propose an appropriate ground-water compliance strategy and reasonable alternatives for the Grand Junction site, once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is complete.

Cost estimates for this report assume a natural flushing ground-water compliance strategy at the Grand Junction site, based on currently available site characterization information. With this approach, contamination concentrations can be reduced naturally to maximum, background, or alternate concentration limits within 100 years, as established in the Environmental Protection Agency standards. For all types of ground-water compliance strategies, once the Nuclear Regulatory Commission determines this site to be in compliance with Subpart B of the Environmental Protection Agency Standards and it is certified, no additional long-term surveillance or monitoring will be conducted.

The total volume of contaminated ground water is estimated to be 2.3 billion liters (600 million gallons), and the contaminant plume extends offsite. The ground-water contaminants of potential concern are cadmium, manganese, molybdenum, sulfate, uranium, vanadium, arsenic, cobalt, fluoride, iron, nickel, radium-226, and zinc. Background ground-water quality in the alluvium shows uranium, molybdenum, and selenium concentrations, and net gross alpha activities are above the maximum concentration limits.

The following milestone dates have been established for planning purposes.

Major Ground-Water Compliance Project Milestones

TASK	COMPLETION DATE Fiscal Year
Site Observational Work Plan	1995
Publish Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact	2002
Publish Remedial Action Plan	2004
Compliance Strategy	2009
Licensing	2011

At the Grand Junction processing site, ground water occurs in alluvial sand and gravel associated with the Colorado River. Uranium processing activities have affected ground water in the alluvium (uppermost aquifer). The contamination extends approximately 1,006 meters (3,300 feet) downgradient from the site. The alluvial aquifer is not currently used in the vicinity of the processing site for any known purpose. The current risk to human health or the environment is limited because water used for domestic and most other purposes is taken from the Grand Mesa Reservoir, approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) upgradient from the processing site.

Sampling of an onsite well that is downgradient indicates a slight increase in uranium concentration since 1989. Contaminants within ground water near the former Grand Junction processing site are moving downgradient toward the Colorado River, which may be the ultimate point of discharge for local ground water.

During the first ten years of remediation, verification monitoring will be performed to ensure that natural flushing is working as predicted. The data collected during this phase will be provided to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a confirmation report. Upon acceptance of the confirmation report, the site will be turned over to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program. This program will conduct Acompliance monitoring@ for up to 90 years. When maximum concentration limits or background or alternate concentration limits have been achieved, a certification report will be prepared to close out all Department of Energy involvement at this site.

Direct Program Management/Support

Program management supports management efforts for the National Environmental Policy Act process, site characterization and licensing, public information/participation, applicable state and federal regulator costs, quality assurance audits, program and management support for the technical assistance contractor, special studies, document control, technical assistance contractor site and technical management, cost and schedule controls, planning and preparation of the federal budget, and the Environmental Management Progress Tracking System.

FUNDING ESTIMATE

The following table presents estimated funding information for the Grand Junction site.

Nondefense Funding Estimate

(Five-Year Averages, Thousands of Constant 1996 Dollars)
	FY 1996-2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025	2030	Life Cycle*
Environmental Restoration	13,060	992	611					73,317
* Total Life Cycle is the sum of the annual costs in constant FY 1996 dollars.