Waste Management

EPA awards $220 million in uranium mine cleanup contracts

February 22, 2021, 9:29AMRadwaste Solutions

The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded three contracts for cleanup efforts at more than 50 abandoned uranium mine sites in and around the Navajo Nation in the southwestern United States. The Navaho Area Abandoned Mine Remedial Construction and Services Contracts, worth up to $220 million over the next five years, were awarded to the Red Rock Remediation Joint Venture, Environmental Quality Management, and Arrowhead Contracting, the agency announced on February 11.

According to the EPA, the cleanup work is slated to begin later this year, following the completion of assessments in coordination with the Navajo Nation EPA, the tribe’s environmental agency. The sites are in New Mexico’s Grants Mining District and 10 Navajo Nation chapters. The companies selected have experience working on hazardous waste sites across the country, including cleaning up other abandoned mine sites in the Southwest, the EPA said.

Funding: Most of the funding for the contracts comes from the nearly $1 billion settlement reached in 2015 for the cleanup of more than 50 abandoned uranium mine sites for which Kerr McGee Corporation and its successor, Tronox, have responsibility. In addition to the funds from that settlement, the EPA and the Navajo Nation have secured funding through enforcement agreements and other legal settlements for the assessment and cleanup of approximately 200 abandoned uranium mine sites on the Navajo Nation.

The history: During the Cold War, 30 million tons of uranium ore were mined on or adjacent to the Navajo Nation, leaving more than 500 abandoned mines. Since 2008, the EPA has conducted preliminary investigations at all of the mines, completed 113 assessments, cleaned up over 50 contaminated structures, provided safe drinking water to over 3,000 families in partnership with the Indian Health Service, and completed cleanup, stabilization, or fencing at 29 mines.

Cleanup of the abandoned uranium mines is a coordinated effort between multiple federal agencies and the Navajo Nation.

Tags:
environmental remediationepanavajo nationuranium
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