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