Naturita, Colorado (Umtra Site)

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Naturita is a former millsite located 3.2 kilometers (two miles) northwest of the Town of Naturita in Montrose County, Colorado. The site occupies 21 hectares (53 acres). An additional 34 hectares (85 acres) of land adjacent to the site contain contaminated wind-blown material.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Naturita millsite was to provide uranium for the United States Government. The source of contamination was the residual tailings that remained after the milling process extracted the uranium. Rare Metals Company built the mill in 1930, but it did not become operational until 1939 when Vanadium Corporation of America acquired it and converted it for vanadium recovery. The mill was shut down at the end of World War II but reopened in 1947. It produced uranium concentrates that were shipped to the Atomic Energy Commission until the mill was shut down in 1958. From 1961 until 1963, Vanadium Corporation of America operated a uranium upgrader at the site. In 1967, Vanadium Corporation of America merged with Foote Mineral Company, and ownership of the site passed to Foote.

In 1976, Rancher's Exploration of Albuquerque purchased a portion of the former tailings site. Hecla Mining Company then acquired Rancher's. Between 1977 and 1979, Hecla removed the tailings and reprocessed them at another site. Cyprus/Foote Mineral Company owns the remaining portion of the site, which it leased to General Electric Company for a uranium ore-buying depot.

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 remaining residual radioactive material at the former processing site will be relocated to the Uravan disposal site. Remedial action under the Surface Project at the former processing site will be completed under a Remedial Action Agreement between the Department of Energy and the private land owner(s). Under the terms of the Remedial Action Agreement, beneficial use of the site will be returned to the owners upon Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification of the surface remedial action. The disposal cell will remain under Department of Energy Controlled Access for the life cycle of this estimate.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION

Tailings were removed from the processing site in 1979. Surface remedial action will remove other residual radioactive material from the site. Residual milling-related contaminated ground water must also be addressed.

Surface Project

Demolition of buildings remaining at the Naturita mill site was accomplished during 1994 and 1995. Several vicinity properties have been remediated, with the materials stockpiled on the former processing site. The residual radioactive material will be hauled to the Uravan disposal site and deposited in a cell at the Upper Burbank Repository. This report assumes that the start of phase II remedial action will occur in April 1996.

A total of approximately 304,000 cubic meters (400,000 cubic yards) of tailings and debris will be transported, with remediation completion expected by the fall of 1997. Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification and licensing and transfer to the Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program will be completed by late FY 1998.

Major Surface Project Milestones

TASK	COMPLETION DATE Fiscal Year
Publish Remedial Action Plan	1996
Vicinity Property Remedial Action	1996
Site Remedial Action	1997
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Issues General License	1998
Transfer Disposal Cell to Grand Junction Projects Office Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance Program	1998

The former owners removed tailings from the site to reprocess them for other extractable minerals. Remaining residual contaminants were described in the Naturita Remedial Action Plan. The Remedial Action Plan, which requires concurrence by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will be published in January 1996. The UMTRA Surface Project will conduct surveillance and maintenance of the disposal cell after the completion of remedial action and prior to its transfer to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program in FY 1998.

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 Naturita site once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

This report assumes a natural flushing ground-water compliance strategy at the Naturita site. With this approach, contamination concentrations are expected to be reduced naturally to maximum, background, or alternate concentration limits within 100 years. For all types of ground-water compliance strategies, once the Nuclear Regulatory Commission determines the site to be in compliance with Subpart B of the Environmental Protection Agency Standards and the site is certified, no additional long-term surveillance or monitoring will be conducted.

The total volume of contaminated ground water is estimated to be 314 million liters (83 million gallons), and the contaminant plume extends offsite. The concentration of uranium, a primary indicator of contamination, has either remained constant, with only seasonal fluctuations, or has shown slight decreases. Because tailings were removed from the site in 1979, the current distribution of uranium and other constituents in the alluvial aquifer may represent an apparent steady-state distribution.

The following milestone dates have been established for planning purposes.

Major Ground-Water Compliance Project Milestones

TASK	COMPLETION DATE Fiscal Year
Baseline Risk Assessment	1996
Site Observational Work Plan	2004
Publish Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact	2005
Publish Remedial Action Plan	2007
Compliance Strategy	2012
Licensing	2013

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 would be turned over to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program. This program will conduct "compliance 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 Naturita site.