Spook, Wyoming (UMTRA Site)

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The former Spook mill and tailings site is located approximately 77 kilometers (48 miles) northeast of Casper, Wyoming, in Converse County, and 51 kilometers (32 miles) northeast of Glenrock, Wyoming. The site covers approximately 22 hectares (55 acres). The residual radioactive materials occupied about two hectares (five acres), mostly in an open pit mine that was 30 meters (100 feet) deep at its deepest point.

FACILITY MISSION

The mission of the 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 Wyoming Mining and Milling Company operated a uranium upgrader on the site to concentrate uranium ore before shipment to the Western Nuclear Mill at Jeffrey City, Wyoming. The upgrader became operational in 1962 and ran until 1965.

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. The State of Wyoming will participate in decisionmaking.

FUTURE USE

The Federal Government will retain ownership of the Spook disposal site, and the Department of Energy will retain custody. The site 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 is controlled.

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

Environmental Management completed surface remedial action in 1989. In 1993, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission accepted the Spook Long-term Surveillance Plan, which established the Spook disposal site under the general license. The disposal site was transferred to the Grand Junction Projects Office's Long-Term Surveillance and Maintenance program in April 1994.

The remedial action project for the Converse County uranium mill tailings site was a joint effort between the UMTRA Project and the Wyoming Abandoned Mine Lands Program. The UMTRA Project portion of the remedial action involved stabilizing the residual radioactive materials within an inactive open pit mine on the site. The Abandoned Mine Lands Program was responsible for backfilling the open pit with uncontaminated soil and restoring disturbed area to pre-mining conditions.

The Spook remedial action project included cleanup of all offsite properties contaminated with tailings from the Converse County site. The Department of Energy identified two vicinity properties adjacent to the mill. Cleanup of those properties consisted of removing the residual radioactive materials and transporting them to the former mill site for permanent stabilization.

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 Spook mill site once the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is completed.

This report assumes a No Further Action ground-water compliance demonstration, with the application of supplemental standards. The contaminated ground water in the uppermost aquifer qualifies for 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.

Uranium processing activities that occurred from 1962 until 1966 contaminated the ground water in the uppermost aquifers, both beneath and downgradient of the site. The ground water contains widespread ambient uranium and selenium contamination resulting from naturally-occurring conditions (natural uranium mineralization associated with an alteration front) and the effects of broad-scale human activity, not related to uranium milling operations (uranium exploration and mining activities). Site-related contaminants in ground water have been detected approximately 762 meters (2,500 feet) downgradient and include uranium, selenium, chromium, molybdenum, and radium-226 and -28.

The following milestone dates have been established for planning purposes.

The uranium milling process at Spook included an acid-curing process that was used in conjunction with percolation heap leaching. The tailings were placed on the surface at the mill site or receded into the open-pit mine. The solutions used in the process were disposed of on the tailings pile and in the acid pond located 457 meters (1,500 feet) south of the mill site. As a result of this operation, process reagents in the contaminated ground water at the site include sulfate, ammonium, sodium, nitrate, and possibly chloride. Naturally-occurring alteration front mineralization within the saturated zone also constitutes a primary source of contamination for ground water in the upper sandstone unit.

To assess the extent of contamination, the Department of Energy installed 35 monitor wells in hydrogeologic units beneath the Spook site between December 1986 and August 1988. Monitor wells were sampled for ground-water quality from February 1987 through December 1988. The number of sampling rounds per well varied from two to six, depending on when the monitor wells were installed.

Ground water in the lower sandstone unit is not contaminated as a result of milling operations at the Spook site, and concentrations of all constituents are below proposed maximum concentration limits for UMTRA Project sites.

There is no apparent risk to human health and the environment because there are no known exposure pathways for ground water from the uppermost aquifer. No one uses or is projected to use this water, and there is no discharge to the deeper aquifers used for domestic and agricultural purposes, nor to the surface or surface water.

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 Spook site.