Bowman, North Dakota (Umtra Site)

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The Bowman site is located in southwestern North Dakota, 11 kilometers (seven miles) west of the Town of Bowman, near a railroad and close to the head of Spring Creek, a part of the Grand River drainage basin. Bowman is approximately 105 kilometers (65 miles) southwest of the Belfield site. An unpaved road separates the five-hectare (12-acre) site into two tracts and the site is overgrown with nonnative grasses. Structures and equipment used at the site have been removed; only a small amount of concrete rubble and a few pieces of piping remain. Wind-blown materials have contaminated an additional 21 hectares (53 acres) of land.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Bowman site was to provide uraniferous ash for processing at the Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico and Rifle, Colorado mill sites for the United States Government. The source of contamination was the residual radioactive material that remained after a lignite coal ashing process concentrated the uranium that was found in the coal. The ash from this process is different than the usual mill tailings found at the other UMTRA sites. Kermac Nuclear Fuels Corporation produced the ash from 1963 until 1967, when it was shipped to Grants, New Mexico for further processing. Currently, this site has unrestricted access; it has been planted with natural grass as a source of hay.

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

Prior to the start of site remedial action, the State of North Dakota will acquire the Bowman former processing site. Upon completion of remedial action and Nuclear Regulatory Commission site certification, the State of North Dakota will transfer the deed for the disposal site (Bowman) to the Federal Government, under the custody of the Department of Energy. It will be monitored and maintained in accordance with the Long-term Surveillance Plan approved by the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Public access to the disposal site will be controlled. Upon Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification of compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency ground-water protection standards, ownership of the portion of the property not used for the disposal cell will be returned to the private landowners. The future use of the former processing site is likely to be Agricultural.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION

Contaminated soil, gravel, and rubble from the site are the only residual radioactive materials that require surface project remediation. Residual milling-related contaminated ground water is also present. See the Environmental Restoration Projects Cost Estimate table in the Belfield narrative. Belfield and Bowman restoration activities will be combined to reduce costs.

Surface Project

The Remedial Action Plan involves stabilizing the residual radioactive materials onsite. The residual radioactive materials at the Belfield site will be relocated to the disposal cell at Bowman. Remedial action under the Surface Project at the former Bowman processing site will be performed under a Remedial Action Agreement between the Department of Energy, State of North Dakota, and the private land owners.

Approximately 97,280 cubic meters (128,400 cubic yards) of ash-contaminated soils require remediation. The ash-contaminated soils have slightly elevated concentrations of molybdenum, arsenic, and radium­226. In the proposed surface remedial action, scheduled to start in FY 1996, all residual radioactive material from both the Belfield and the Bowman sites will be consolidated and stabilized in a single disposal cell on the Bowman site. The disposal cell will be covered with a low-permeability infiltration/radon barrier and erosion protection cover to ensure long-term stability of the cell, retard infiltration, reduce seepage of tailings fluids to ground water, and prevent radon emanation. The site is currently privately owned. Acquisition by the State is pending.

Approximately 44,080 cubic meters (58,000 cubic yards) of contaminated materials from the Belfield site are scheduled to be transported to the Bowman disposal cell, where they will be stabilized to meet 40 Code of Federal Regulations 192 requirements. Approximately 76,000 cubic meters (100,000 cubic yards) of contaminated materials from the Bowman site will be stabilized onsite. Concurrent with site remediation, five vicinity properties will be remediated. There are no transportation issues at this site since the tailings will be stabilized in place. Remedial action is scheduled to begin in FY 1996 and end in FY 1997. Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification and licensing of the disposal cell will take place in FY 1998, with transfer to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance Program in late FY 1998.

The site has been fully characterized, and no further monitoring of any media is occurring. The Belfield/Bowman, North Dakota Remedial Action Plan outlines the necessary contaminant distribution and remediation. The Remedial Action Plan, which requires Nuclear Regulatory Commission concurrence, will be published in March 1996.

The Long-term Surveillance Plan, which describes how the disposal site will be managed, will be written concurrently with the site Completion Report and final Audit Report. These two documents will be included in the Department of Energy's site Certification Report, which states 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 disposal cell.

Between completing site remedial action and transferring the licensed site's surveillance activities to the Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance Program, annual site inspections and custodial maintenance will be conducted under the UMTRA Surface Project's Prelicensing Custodial Care activities. The prime objective will be to maintain cell integrity.

Ground-Water Compliance Project

A Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement pertaining to all 24 UMTRA sites is being developed. 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 Bowman site once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

This report assumes a No Further Action compliance demonstration with the application of supplemental standards for the Bowman site. Because there is extensive ambient contamination in the upper aquifer (zone), the ground water classifies as a limited use resource and supports the application of supplemental standards. 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 it is certified, no additional long-term surveillance or monitoring will be conducted.

Some constituents of concern (such as antimony, chromium, lead, molybdenum, selenium, uranium, and vanadium) occur naturally at elevated concentrations in shallow ground water adjacent to lignite zones in this region of North Dakota. This has made it difficult to distinguish between potential ground-water contamination related to the former uranium processing activities at the site and the impact of naturally occurring concentrations of these constituents. Possible sources of nitrate are fertilizer applied to crop areas, farmyard waste, and septic tank effluent.

The following milestone dates have been established for planning purposes.

Water quality sampling was conducted at the Bowman site from 1986 until 1993. A comprehensive list of constituents was analyzed during screening monitoring to determine background and baseline ground-water quality in the zones of interest beneath the site.

Ground-water samples collected from onsite and downgradient monitor wells at the Bowman processing site were analyzed to determine the extent and magnitude of ground-water contamination related to the uranium processing activities. In the upper zone, average concentrations of molybdenum, selenium, and uranium in ground water exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency maximum concentration limits. Nitrate concentrations were approximately two times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency maximum concentration limits in one monitor well. It is probable that they are the result of agricultural activities. Contaminants in ground water that exceed background concentrations do not form a discrete plume in the upper zone downgradient from the processing site.

The extent of ground-water contamination in the lignite zone is less than ground-water contamination in the fine-grained sediments of the upper zone. Concentrations of selenium and activities of net gross alpha and radium exceed the Environmental Protection Agency maximum concentration limits in ground water. In the lower zone, the concentrations of all constituents considered in the proposed Environmental Protection Agency ground-water standards were below maximum concentration limits.

Uranium in shallow ground water downgradient from the site does not appear to be related to site contamination but instead represents natural concentrations. Site-related contamination has not impacted ground water in the lower zone.

Water sampling activities were not conducted in 1994 because the ground-water conditions at the site are relatively stable. The next water sampling event is scheduled before the start of surface remedial action activities and will include sampling selected monitor wells at the sites and several domestic wells in the vicinity.

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 Bowman site.