Moab Mill cleanup reaches 16 million‑ton milestone; DOE outlines remaining remediation and monitoring steps

DOE federal cleanup director Matt Yanovich told the Grand County Moab Tailings Project Steering Committee on Dec. 27 that the project reached the 16,000,000‑ton milestone Sept. 29 and that the tailings pile has been excavated and sent to the Crescent Junction disposal cell. "We did reach the 16,000,000 ton milestone," Yanovich said, and the team plans a public tile‑transfer ceremony in April to mark the milestone.

Why it matters: Removing the pile is the visible milestone in a multi‑year remediation effort; committee members and DOE staff said it shifts the focus to residual sub‑pile materials, off‑pile contamination near the former mill area and engineered site closure that will determine long‑term stewardship and public access.

What DOE reported: Yanovich and other DOE staff said crews will continue removing contaminated sub‑pile material and clean off‑pile areas through about 2027, with disposal‑cell cover construction and a shipping summary to follow. The transcript records DOE stating 339,000 tons shipped this fiscal year and that about 136 workers are employed on site. The project team also described life‑cycle planning with integrated project teams to coordinate groundwater compliance, property disposition and other transition tasks leading to Legacy Management.

Regulatory approvals and technical work: Deputy federal cleanup director Chris Polskin announced NRC concurrence on an evapotranspiration (ET) cover design and said the project is ready to begin construction when funding allows. "We got concurrence from NRC," Polskin said, explaining that ET covers rely on evaporation and plant transpiration to wick moisture out of the cover rather than using rock armor, which can retain water.

Polskin also described a plan to realign the middle reach of Moab Wash in phases so crews can remediate contaminated soils in the former channel. Phase 1 will ‘‘rough in’’ the new channel this spring, with a PE‑engineered tie‑in and final work in a later phase.

Groundwater and monitoring: DOE environmental manager Liz Moran told the committee that injection operations will continue through winter but extraction infrastructure is winterized each November–March; she said DOE currently plans not to restart extraction in March because the tailings footprint is gone and extraction equipment must itself be remediated. Moran said updated groundwater modeling will feed a 60% Groundwater Compliance Action Plan (GCAP) focused on habitat protection from groundwater ammonia and that DOE will meet NRC and other regulators in April to tour the site.

Independent verification and environmental sampling: Kenny Schafer summarized final status surveys and independent verification conducted by ORISE (Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education). ORISE has performed selected scanning and sampling and will deliver a report; DOE described additional ORISE visits to continue verification. DOE also reported discontinuing five off‑site environmental sampling stations because long‑term data showed no regulatory exceedances; the committee heard the on‑site maximum exposed individual (MEI) figure reported in the transcript as 4.11 (unit as stated in the transcript). Schafer said perimeter monitoring will continue.

Numbers and caveats: Committee presentations included several operational figures drawn from DOE monthly status updates. The transcript records DOE stating roughly 16.0–16.2 million tons moved to Crescent Junction, about 339,000 tons shipped in the current fiscal year, and cumulative groundwater prevention totals of about 1,000,000 pounds of ammonia and 5,816 pounds of uranium prevented from reaching the river. Some numeric transcriptions in the meeting record were ambiguous (see audit), and the committee asked that DOE and the county share the underlying monthly reports for verification.

Next steps: DOE said it is working on a safe‑transition plan and integrated project teams to coordinate the handoff to Legacy Management. The committee was asked to name points of contact and possible small working groups for infrastructure and property‑disposition issues. The committee also noted an April 9 public tile‑transfer ceremony and scheduled the next steering committee meeting for April 28 following that event.

Ending: DOE framed the coming months as focused on sub‑pile excavation, surface remediation, groundwater compliance planning and construction of the closure cover once funding and design work are finalized.