Rifle, Colorado (UMTRA Site)

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The two inactive uranium processing sites at Rifle are located in the Colorado River Valley near the City of Rifle. The sites are approximately three kilometers (two miles) apart and are referred to as the Old Rifle and New Rifle sites. Old Rifle is located just east of the Rifle city limits in Garfield County, Colorado. It is a nine-hectare (22-acre) site where the tailings pile covered approximately five hectares (13 acres) of land. The New Rifle site is west of the City of Rifle. The tailings pile covered about 13 hectares (33 acres) of land and had steep side slopes rising to a height of about 10 meters (33 feet).

Estimated Site Total

(Thousands of Current Year Dollars)
	FY 1996	1997	1998	1999	2000
Environmental Restoration	7,908	1,300	781	599	919	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	8,005			These levels reflect the current estimates for compliance with applicable statutes and agreements (as of March 1996), see Readers' Guide.
1997 Congressional Request		1,422
(Five-Year Averages, Thousands of Constant 1996 Dollars)
	FY 1996-2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025	2030	Life Cycle*
Environmental Restoration	2,254	1,027	776					20,287
* Total Life Cycle is the sum of the annual costs in constant FY 1996 dollars.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Rifle mill sites 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. Old Rifle operated from 1924 to 1932 for the recovery of vanadium. The process was altered to include recovery of uranium from 1947 to 1958. The New Rifle mill operated to recover uranium and vanadium from 1958 until 1973.

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 Department of Energy acquired the Rifle disposal site (Estes Gulch) from the Bureau of Land Management from a legislative withdrawal and jurisdictional transfer. The disposal site will be monitored and maintained by the Department in accordance with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved Long-term Surveillance Plan. Under the provisions of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act, public access to the disposal site will be restricted. The State of Colorado acquired both processing sites. Upon Nuclear Regulatory Commission site certification, the State may retain the sites or dispose of them in accordance with the provisions of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION

Surface remedial action will be completed by the end of 1995, and the source of contamination will be 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	121							604
Remedial Action	899							4,493
UMTRA Ground water
Assessment	218	122	65					2,025
Remedial Action	4	120	75					994
Direct Program Management/Support	1,013	785	636					12,171
Total	2,254	1,027	776					20,287
* Total Life Cycle is the sum of the annual costs in constant FY 1996 dollars.

Surface Project

Approximately 2.7 million cubic meters (3.6 million cubic yards) of contaminated materials have been transported to the Estes Gulch disposal cell. Completion of the disposal cell cover is expected to occur during FY 1996. Approximately 110 vicinity properties will be remediated concurrently with site remediation activities. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the State of Colorado concurred on the remedial action. The Completion Report describing these activities will be written in FY 1996. Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification, licensing of the disposal cell, and the transfer of the processing site remedial action to the Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program will occur in FY 1998.

Major Surface Project Milestones

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

The site is fully characterized; however, monitoring is performed to determine the effects of surface remedial action construction on the ground water.

The Rifle Remedial Action Plan outlined contaminant distribution and remediation needed. The Remedial Action Plan, which requires concurrence by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was published in March 1993. 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 Rifle sites once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

This report assumes a natural flushing ground-water compliance strategy at the Rifle sites. With this approach, contamination concentrations are expected to 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 the sites to be in compliance with Subpart B of the Environmental Protection Agency Standards and they are certified, no additional long-term surveillance or monitoring will be conducted.

The total volume of contaminated ground water is estimated to be 11.3 million liters (3 million gallons) at New Rifle and 2.4 million liters (650,000 gallons) at Old Rifle. Both of the contaminant plumes extend offsite. The ground-water contaminants of potential concern at the Rifle sites are iron, manganese, sulfate, uranium, fluoride, molybdenum, selenium, arsenic, ammonium, antimony, cadmium, chloride, lead, manganese, nitrate, sodium, and vanadium.

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	2001
Publish Environmental Assessment/Finding of No Significant Impact	2002
Publish Remedial Action Plan	2004
Compliance Strategy	2009
Licensing	2010

To assess the extent of ground-water contamination from former processing activities, the downgradient ground-water quality before remediation was compared with the background-water quality and the Environmental Protection Agency Maximum Concentration Limits. A total of 12 domestic locations were sampled during 1994. Results of the recent Rifle baseline risk assessment indicate that uranium processing activities have not impacted domestic wells north of U.S. Highway 6. Results of ground-water quality sampling in the New Rifle processing site vicinity generally indicate that contaminants continue to migrate southwest toward the Colorado River.

Limited sampling in the Old Rifle processing site vicinity indicates that contamination in ground water downgradient of the site is not extensive. Contaminants are most likely discharged into the Colorado River a short distance southwest of the site. The Colorado River may act as a discharge boundary to ground-water flow and contaminant transport. To the Department of Energy's knowledge, uranium processing activities in the vicinity of the Old Rifle site have not impacted any private wells.

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 or other designated agency under the Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program. This program will conduct "compliance monitoring" for up to 90 years. When maximum, 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 Rifle sites.

Nondefense Funding Estimate

(Five-Year Averages, Thousands of Constant 1996 Dollars)
	FY 1996-2000	2005	2010	2015	2020	2025	2030	Life Cycle*
Environmental Restoration	2,254	1,027	776					20,287
* Total Life Cycle is the sum of the annual costs in constant FY 1996 dollars.