The Department of Energy remains on pace for final cleanup of a uranium mill tailings project outside Moab, Utah by 2029, the department said in a Dec. 23 press release.
On Dec. 19, DOE celebrated the removal of 15 million tons of radioactive material from the site alongside the Colorado River, leaving only 1 million tons to go, the department said.
Federal bosses joined elected officials from Moab and Grand County, Utah at a ceremony in downtown Moab to mark the October milestone with relocation of 15 million tons from the Moab site.
Only 1 million tons remain on the relocation project being carried out by DOE contractor North Wind Portage.
In 2009, DOE and its contractor started relocating the tailings pile from the old Atlas Minerals uranium tailings site to an engineered landfill more than 30 miles away in Crescent Junction, Utah.