A message from Exosens

A Technology Leader in Neutron Measurement

The DRUM program: Cataloging America’s abandoned uranium mines

September 30, 2022, 3:04PMRadwaste SolutionsGuest Contributor

DRUM team members at the Telluride 18 mine in the Yellow Cat area of southwest Colorado.

Based on a review of U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) records and available data from numerous agencies, there are an estimated 4,225 mines across the country that provided uranium ore to the U.S. government for defense-related purposes between 1947 and 1970. To aid in the cleanup of these legacy uranium mines and establish a record of their locations and current conditions, the Defense-Related Uranium Mines (DRUM) program was established within the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management (LM).

To continue reading, log in or create a free account!

A message from WMG, Inc.

WMG FLTRSTOR™ System Overview

Learn More

EPA administrator Lee Zeldin talks the future of nuclear

July 11, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News

In a recent interview on New York radio station 77 WABC, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin talked with host John Catsimatidis about the near-term future of the...

DOE on track to deliver high-burnup SNF to Idaho by 2027

July 8, 2025, 3:00PMRadwaste Solutions

The Department of Energy said it anticipated delivering a research cask of high-burnup spent nuclear fuel from Dominion Energy’s North Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia to Idaho National...

DOE issues new NEPA rule and procedures—and accelerates DOME reactor testing

July 1, 2025, 3:04PMNuclear News

Meeting a deadline set in President Trump’s May 23 executive order “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy,” the DOE on June 30 updated information on its National...

Experimenters get access to NSUF facilities for irradiation effects studies

July 1, 2025, 7:04AMNuclear News

The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy announced the recipients of “first call” 2025 Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF) Rapid Turnaround Experiment (RTE) awards on June...

DOE extends Centrus’s HALEU production contract by one year

June 25, 2025, 7:00AMNuclear News

Centrus Energy has secured a contract extension from the Department of Energy to continue—for one year—its ongoing high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) production at the American...

Take steps on SNF and HLW disposal

June 20, 2025, 3:08PMNuclear NewsMatt Bowen

With a new administration and Congress, it is time once again to ponder what will happen—if anything—on U.S. spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management policy over the next few...

DOE opens pilot program to authorize test reactors outside national labs

June 20, 2025, 9:35AMNuclear News

Details of the plan to test new reactor concepts under the Department of Energy’s authority but outside national laboratory boundaries—first outlined in one of the four executive orders on...

Hanford proposes “decoupled” approach to remediating former chem lab

June 13, 2025, 7:01AMRadwaste Solutions

Working with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy has revised its planned approach to remediating contaminated soil underneath the Chemical Materials Engineering...

DOE opens Milestone fusion pilot plant program to new companies and teams

June 12, 2025, 12:00PMNuclear News

Eight companies were chosen to develop fusion pilot plant designs through the Department of Energy’s Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program just over two years ago. It wasn’t until...

“Today’s Challenge, Tomorrow’s Promise”

June 12, 2025, 7:04AMNuclear News

The title for this year’s waste management issue of Nuclear News is, in my opinion, the perfect framing to consider spent fuel and waste management as we know it now and how we imagine it...

The DRUM program: Cataloging America’s abandoned uranium mines

Related Articles