Friday, April 24, 2009

First trainload of uranium tailings leaves Moab

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

MOAB — The first trainload of radioactive uranium tailings has been taken from a dump site near Moab.

U.S. Department of Energy officials say they’re still testing equipment and travel routes that are designed to eventually move 16 million tons of uranium waste to a disposal site 30 miles away at Crescent Junction.

The first trainload departed on Monday.

Don Metzler, project director for DOE, says the system is expected to be fully operational after a ribbon-cutting ceremony early next month.

After May 4, a train with 88 containers full of the sludge will depart in the evenings Monday through Thursday. This summer, train shipments are planned to increase to seven days a week.

The tailings near the Colorado River are leftovers from a former uranium mill about three miles northwest of Moab.

http://www.standard.net/live/news/170421

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