Texas UMTRA Site

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The Falls City former processing site is one of 24 uranium mill processing sites designated by the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act for remediation by the Department of Energy. During the 1960s, private firms processed most of the uranium ore mined in the United States for the Atomic Energy Commission, a predecessor of the Department of Energy. Congress passed the Act in 1978 in response to public concern regarding potential health hazards from long-term exposure to uranium mill tailings. It authorized the Department of Energy to stabilize, dispose of, and control uranium mill tailings and other contaminated material at 24 uranium mill processing sites and vicinity properties. For a general discussion of the UMTRA Program, see the overview presented in the New Mexico section of this report.

The cost estimate model used for this report provides costs for each of the UMTRA sites. All costs for waste management activities, program management, and relevant landlord activities attributable to the Department are provided for within the scope of environmental restoration. There are no Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act sites with either current or planned nuclear material and facility stabilization activity needs. Funding for all sites is 100 percent nondefense.

Pursuant to the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act, the Department of Energy entered into a Cooperative Agreement in 1987 with the State of Texas. The agreement outlines the roles and responsibilities of each party. It also delineates the cost sharing arrangement, which makes the Department of Energy responsible for 100 percent of the assessment costs and 90 percent of the remediation costs, and the State responsible for the remaining 10 percent of the remediation costs. In addition, the Department of Energy is responsible for paying 90 percent of the State*s ten percent, and the State is responsible for the remaining 10 percent of these costs (one percent of the total remediation costs). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission concurred on the original agreement and must concur on all major modifications.

FALLS CITY, TEXAS (UMTRA SITE)

The former Falls City mill and tailings site is located in Karnes County, 74 kilometers (46 miles) southeast of San Antonio and approximately 13 kilometers (eight miles) southwest of Falls City, Texas. It covers 240 hectares (593 acres) on two parcels.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Falls City 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. The original mill was built and operated by Susquehanna-Western, Inc. of San Antonio, Texas from 1961 to 1973. Between 1978 and 1982, Solution Engineering, Inc. conducted secondary solution mining from four tailings piles. In 1982, all the piles were covered with about one and one-half feet of soil, and revegetated.

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

Upon Nuclear Regulatory Commission site certification, the State will transfer the deed to the disposal site 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. The State of Texas will retain a larger tract of land adjacent to the disposal site. The site will be transferred from the Department of Energy to the State of Texas pending Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification under the UMTRA Surface Project. In the future, the State of Texas will offer this site for private sale with some controlled access conditions.

ENVIRONMENTAL RESTORATION

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

Surface Project

Remedial action began under the UMTRA Surface Project in 1992 and was completed in July 1994. The cleanup involved consolidation of seven tailings piles of residual radioactive material into a single stabilized disposal cell. Approximately 4.6 million cubic meters (6 million cubic yards) of contaminated material, including 13 vicinity properties, were remediated. The site is expected to be certified by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in August 1996, and the disposal cell licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in January 1997.

The Falls City, Texas Remedial Action Plan, concurred upon by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in November 1992, outlines the contaminant distribution and necessary remediation. The UMTRA Surface Project will conduct surveillance and maintenance of the disposal cell after completion of remedial action and prior to its transfer to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program in FY 1997.

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 Falls City site once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

This report assumes demonstrated compliance with additional characterization and 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 the site is certified, no additional long-term surveillance or monitoring will be conducted.

The total volume of contaminated ground water has not been assessed, but the contaminant plume extends offsite. The ground-water contaminants of potential concern are cadmium, cobalt, fluoride, iron, nickel, sulfate, and uranium.

The following milestone dates have been established for planning purposes.

Ground and surface water have been monitored at the Falls City site since 1986. Ground-water sampling is conducted biannually. This sampling will allow continued evaluation of trends in ground-water flow conditions, and it will allow adequate characterization of hydrogeological conditions and ground-water quality.

A hydrological, geochemical, and statistical analysis of ground-water quality data for the period of 1989 through 1993 indicates widespread tailings-related contamination in the Deweesville/Conquista aquifer and significantly less contamination in the Dilworth aquifer.

In 1994, ground-water monitoring consisted of sampling 17 wells screened in the upper Deweesville/Conquista aquifer and two wells screened in the underlying Dilworth aquifer. Ground-water sampling in the Dilworth aquifer involved monitoring background and downgradient ground-water quality conditions. Eight local livestock wells were also sampled. The sampled wells ranged from approximately 9 to 134 meters (30 to 440 feet) deep and are situated upgradient, crossgradient, and downgradient of the site.

Ground-water geochemistry at the Falls City site is complex because no single ground-water quality parameter can quantify the extent of ground-water contamination. Therefore, several indicator parameters related to uranium processing activities were selected for analysis: aluminum, calcium, pH, sulfate, and uranium.

The depth and location of background water quality varies greatly because it occurs within the uranium ore body. The background ground water is classified as limited use, based on high average uranium concentrations and activities of net gross alpha and radium that render the water untreatable by methods reasonably employed by public water systems in the region.

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 Falls City site.