Salt Lake City, Utah (UMTRA Site)

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The 52-hectare (128-acre) Salt Lake City site is located about 6.4 kilometers (four miles) south-southwest of the center of Salt Lake City. An ore-processing mill and ore storage and transportation facilities were located on 3.2 hectares (eight acres) on the eastern portion of the site. Tailings occupied the remaining 49 hectares (120 acres) with piles up to five meters (16 feet) high.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the Salt Lake City mill site 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. The plant was originally built during World War II for the production of aluminum from aluminite. In 1951, Vitro Corporation of America acquired the plant to process uranium ore. In 1964, the plant was converted to produce vanadium. Production ceased in 1968 and by 1970, the plant had been dismantled. The site has changed ownership several times and is now owned by the Central Valley Water Treatment Facility Board.

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.

Pursuant to the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act, the Department of Energy entered into a Cooperative Agreement in 1983 with the State of Utah. The agreement outlines the roles and responsibilities of each party. It also delineates the cost sharing arrangement that 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 10 percent, and the State is responsible for the remaining 10 percent of these costs (one percent of the total). The Nuclear Regulatory Commission concurred on the original agreement and is required to concur on all major modifications.

FUTURE USE

Residual radioactive materials from the Salt Lake City site were relocated to the Clive disposal site, which is currently owned by the State of Utah. Upon Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification, the State will transfer the deed to the Clive 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. Under the provisions of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act, public access to the disposal site will be restricted. Remedial action at the Vitro processing site was performed under a Remedial Action Agreement with Central Valley Water Reclamation Facility. Under the terms of the Remedial Action Agreement, the site will be returned to private ownership for beneficial use upon certification of compliance with Subpart B of the Environmental Protection Agency ground-water protection standards. Some restricted use will be allowed following certification of the surface cleanup. The near-term future use is Recreational, and the long-term future use is Industrial/Commercial.

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 was completed in May 1989 and involved relocating the residual radioactive material from the former processing site to the disposal site at Clive, Utah, located 137 kilometers (85 miles) west of Salt Lake City. A total of approximately 2,059,600 cubic meters (2,710,000 cubic yards) of contaminated materials was remediated. Concurrent with site remediation activities, 118 vicinity properties were remediated. Nuclear Regulatory Commission certification of the disposal site is scheduled for August 1997, with Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing expected in January 1998.

The Salt Lake City Remedial Action Plan outlined the 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 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 Salt Lake City site once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

This report assumes a demonstrated compliance strategy with additional characterization and the application of supplemental standards. This compliance strategy is based on the evaluation of the existing conceptual model. 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 2.6 billion liters (700 million gallons), and the contaminant plume extends offsite. The ground-water contaminants of potential concern are chloride, fluoride, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum, radium-226, sodium, sulfate, and uranium.

The following milestone dates have been established for planning purposes.

Ground water in the shallow unconfined aquifer is contaminated as a result of uranium processing activities. Sampling of the lower, confined aquifer system does not indicate site-related contamination of the ground water. Limited sediment sampling indicates that the South Vitro Ditch, an irrigation ditch traversing the site, may have high levels of molybdenum, while the remaining samples show no adverse effects from site-related contamination.

Contaminant migration in ground water in the unconfined aquifer west and northwest of the processing site may be occurring, but the full extent of contamination is not known because monitoring wells were not established at downgradient, offsite locations. Increased concentrations of sulfate and the other indicator parameters in wells on the south and east boundaries of the site indicate that contamination of the shallow aquifer is extending into these areas of the processing 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 Salt Lake City site.