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RESEAR
CH
POSTER
PRESEN
TATION
DESIG
N ©
2015
ww
w.PosterPresentations.com
Uranium
mining and m
illing in northwestern N
ew M
exico (NM
) im
pacted soils, stream sedim
ents, surface water, and ground w
ater w
ith elevated levels of radioactivity and toxic heavy metals.
Uranium
and its radioactive decay products such as radium and
radon gas present a significant public health and safety hazard and environm
ental health risk. The exposure of people and the environm
ent to heavy metals and radionuclides in soil, air, and
water in the vicinity of legacy uranium
operations in the Grants
District requires m
itigation through the systematic assessm
ent and cleanup of m
aterials and sites bearing these hazardous contam
inants. In August 2010 E
PA released the Five-Year Plan G
rants Mining D
istrict, New
Mexico
to assess and cleanup hazards from
legacy uranium in northw
estern NM
. The Five-Year P
lan is a comprehensive, coordinated program
among federal,
state, tribal, and public entities to assess-mitigate over 90 legacy
uranium m
ine sites in the Grants M
ining District (G
MD
) according to activities planned in five year increm
ents (see map). The Five-Year
Plan is a com
prehensive, coordinated program am
ong federal, state, tribal, and public entities to assess-m
itigate over 90 legacy uranium
mine sites in the G
MB
according to activities planned in five year increm
ents. The Six O
bjectives of the Plan address the areas
described in Table 1.
Table 1. EPA 2010 Five-Year Plan Six Major O
bjective Areas
and Action Plan Tasks. IN
TRODU
CTION
OBJECTIVES
1. Ground W
ater, 3 of 5 subtasks accomplished. [R
] no specific federal or state regulations require all activities to com
plete a regional ground w
ater study; [T] lack of monitoring w
ells and background w
ater quality data; [F] single well construction and test
cost = $86,000 each (100+ ft, drill, construct, slug test, and sample).
2. Mines, 6 of 7 subtasks show
progress but not completion. [R
] no federal regulations specifically address m
ine cleanup and state program
s under 20.6.2 NM
AC
Discharge P
ermit (D
P) and M
ining A
ct not fully enforced; [T] soil radioactivity cleanup standard varies betw
een sites and agencies; [F] lack of site information prevents
reliable cost estimate depending on soil cleanup standard. C
ost per acre range(?): $100K
-$1 million/acre depending on m
any factors.3. M
ills, 3 of 4 subtasks completed. [R
]federal program (U
MTR
CA
) regulates site cleanup-transfer and long term
manager U
.S.
Departm
ent of Energy (D
OE
) addressing closed Bluew
ater Disposal
Site ground w
ater w/ new
wells and com
prehensive hydrochem
study; [T] no off site down gradient m
onitoring network and high
uncertainty in conceptual model of uranium
plume behavior; [F]
supplemental D
OE
funding for off site monitoring not available and
complicated.
4. Structures, 3 of 4 subtasks completed. [R
] EPA follow
s federal residential radiation risk exposure criteria for surface soil cleanup; [T] E
PA assessed 891 structures and remediated 128 sites to a
health-based action level of 3.5 picoCuries per gram
(pCi/g) radium
-226 w
hich includes background (as of March 2014); [F] cost
information lim
ited to Morm
on Farms area ($3,462,970 for 19
properties or $182,262 per site?).
*CER
CLA
–Com
prehensive Environm
ental Response C
ompensation Liability
Act 1980 am
ended 1986 aka Superfund.
*UM
TRC
A-U
ranium M
ill Tailings Radiation C
ontrol Act, 1978.
EVALUATION
1. Develop im
plementation plan for ground w
ater study. The S
an Mateo C
reek Basin is too large and com
plex of an area to study w
/o a systematic plan for a prioritized, phased investigation
designed to close data gaps and set up for long term m
onitoring.2. Enforce ground w
ater protection regulations at legacy uranium
sites. NM
ED
could do more enforcem
ent but state resources are constrained and effective, efficient system
-???.3. Enhance and strengthen public participation in Five-Year Plan activities. A P
ublic Involvement P
lan could be developed and im
plemented as m
ore work is accom
plished w/ data shared online
and summ
arized at meetings.
4. Utilize university expertise and resources. N
M has som
e great expertise in the university system
that specializes in uranium
chemistry –
environmental engineering and they should be utilized
to help advance Plan activities.
RECOM
MEN
DATION
S
FINDIN
GS & DISCU
SSION
The Plan accom
plishments and progress during 2010-2014
toward com
pletion of these six Objectives indicates that
Jackpile Mine and B
iomonitoring (O
bjectives 5 and 6,respectively) w
ere achieved. Objectives 3 and 4 (m
ill sites and residential structures, respectively) show
accom
plishments and continuing w
ork. Objectives relating to
ground water and m
ine cleanup (Objective 1 and 2) show
som
e progress but these two objectives w
ere not fully
REFERENCES
•U
.S. EPA. (August 2010). Assessm
ent of health and environmental
impacts from
uranium m
ining and milling-five year plan G
rants M
ining District, N
M. R
etrieved from:
http://ww
w.epa.gov/region6//6sf/newm
exico/grants/nm_grants_5yr_
plan.pdf.
•U
.S. EPA (2012). Site activities update: Grants M
ining District and
Hom
estake Site, N
ew M
exico, January 2012. U.S. Environm
ental Protection Agency, Five-Year Plan G
rants Mining D
istrict website, 2
p. Retrieved from
http://w
ww.epa.gov/region6/6sf/new
mexico/grants/nm
-grants-final-grants-m
ining-district-fctsht-jan-2012.pdf.
•U
.S. EPA. (2013). Updated June 2013
-Assessm
ent of health and environm
ental impacts of uranium
mining and m
illing, five-year plan, G
rants Mining D
istrict, New
Mexico: U
. S. Environmental Protection
Agency, EPA Region 6, Superfund, G
rants Mining D
istrict website, 2
p. Retrieved from
http://ww
w/epa.gov/region
6/6sf/newm
exico/grants/ nm_grants_5yr_plan-7-2013.pdf.
•U
.S. EPA. (2014). Site activities update, G
rants Mining D
istrict &
Hom
estake Superfund: U
.S. Environmental Protection Agency fact
sheet (mailed), R
egion 6, Dallas, TX, N
ovember 2014.
ACKNO
WLEDGEM
ENTS
I heartily acknowledge the U
niversity of New
Mexico D
epartment of
Public A
ffairs, Dr. U
day Desai, m
y advisor and thesis comm
ittee chair, and m
y comm
ittee mem
bers, Dr. B
ruce Thomson, and M
r. E
ric Jantz for their valuable recomm
endations pertaining to this study. A special thanks to M
r. Gene H
enley for his tireless and very responsive support throughout the M
PA program. Thanks E
PA &
NM
ED
for the opportunity to work on this project.
I extend a great thank you to my w
ife and friend, Rosam
ond Dixon,
who patiently supported m
e over the past few years through the
evening classes, weekend hom
ework assignm
ents, and the many,
many hours it took to com
plete this thesis.
Perform
a limited evaluation of the activities com
pleted in the first five years (2010-2014) of the E
PA GM
D Five-Year P
lan to determine
if there has been measurable progress tow
ard major goals and
specific tasks in the Plan. Identify constraints and issues that w
ill need to be addressed in the 2016-2020 Five-Year P
lan. Evaluate
the accomplishm
ents of the Six O
bjectives Action P
lan Tasks against three m
ajor criteria: [R
] Regulatory Legislation and Program
s; [T] Technical Factors and C
onsiderations; and [F] Financial Issues and C
onstraints. U
tilize published sources of information especially the E
PA updates on the status of activities and accom
plishments posted on the E
PA w
ebsite, https://ww
w.epa.gov/grants-m
ining-district.
Earle C. D
ixon
, Enviro
nm
ental C
on
sultan
t, Tsali Asso
ciates, Ch
erokee, N
C
THE LEGACY URAN
IUM
MIN
ING AN
D MILLIN
G CLEANU
P PLAN: EVALUATIO
N
OF THE EPA FIVE-YEAR PLAN
, GRANTS M
ININ
G DISTRICT, NEW
MEXICO
Objective
Actionplan task (very sum
marized)
1. Ground Water
Stud
y &m
on
itor gro
un
d w
ater su
pp
ly for co
ntam
inatio
n (5
sub
tasks)
2. Mines
Assess &
remed
iate legacy uran
ium
m
ine im
pacted
areas (7 su
btasks)
3. Mills
Rem
ediate, clo
se & m
on
itor m
ill sites (4
sub
tasks)
4. StructuresA
ssess & rem
ediate
residen
tial stru
ctures (4
sub
tasks)
5. Jackpile Mine
Evaluate &
pro
po
se siteto
place o
n
Sup
erfun
d List th
en rem
ediate u
nd
er *C
ERC
LA (4
sub
tasks)
6. Biomonitoring
Co
nd
uct
volu
ntary b
iom
on
itorin
g of
uran
ium
in u
rine in
Gran
ts area (3
sub
tasks)
5. Jackpile Mine, 4 of 4 subtasks com
pleted. [R] several m
ajor federal program
s have responsibilities for the assessment and
cleanup but CE
RC
LA requirements are key since the site is on
the National Priority List (N
PL), aka “Superfund” since Decem
ber 2013; [T] very large (2,600+ acres?) and challenging site to assess-rem
ediate-engineer for closure; [F] no cost information
available and funding uncertain but rough estimates based on
other Native A
merican uranium
mine cleanup efforts suggest a
range of between $800 m
illion to $2.9 billion based on an average cost per acre values from
analog sites.6. B
iomonitoring, 3 of 3 subtasks com
pleted. [R] abundant
federal programs im
plemented by federal, state, county, city, and
tribal agencies monitor and protect public health; [T] N
M
Departm
ent of Health (N
M D
OH
) conducted 2010 volunteer resident uranium
in urine study: volunteer group average 9 times
higher (0.045 ug/L) than national average (0.005 ug/L); [F] no inform
ation available on financial constraints.
EVALUATION
continued
achieved. Constraints and com
plexities related to regulatory practices, uncertainties, financial burden, and health im
pacts were
identified as hindrance to full completion of the S
ix Objectives.
Recom
mendations to support future w
ork include development of
an implem
entation plan for ground water, full enforcem
ent of state ground w
ater protection regulations, enhanced public involvement,
and better collaboration among Five-Year P
lan agencies.
FINDIN
GS & DISCU
SSION
continued