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Road crews keep eye out for uranium

Durango’s past dealings with metal spur precautions

Road crews completing the new intersection at Camino del Rio and U.S. Highway 160 are taking special precaution to keep an eye out for uranium tailings left over from a mill that closed in 1963.

Though tailings have not been encountered during the continuous-flow intersection project, which is estimated to be finished in mid-August, workers did find uranium tailings in some of the sidewalks while completing another project in 2011 in the same area, said Nancy Shanks, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

“Prior to the project, CDOT was aware that tailings could be located in the general vicinity of the work zone,” Shanks said.

Because of earlier findings near the construction zone, CDOT project specifications required a Materials Management Plan and Health and Safety Plan to address uranium tailings, should they be encountered within the project area, she said.

The plans followed the guidelines of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s uranium mill tailings management plan, Shanks said.

In compliance with the health department’s management plan, any tailings encountered should be re-buried under the roadway, Shanks said.

“The project area is being monitored for tailings anytime new areas of excavation occur,” Shanks said.

The continuous-flow intersection project requires minimal excavation, which reduces the likelihood of encountering uranium tailings, she said.

Duane Smith, a local historian and retired Fort Lewis College history professor, said the reason the tailings were found in the sidewalks was because construction workers used the uranium tailings from the Uranium Mill for filler on various projects.

“It seemed like a nice way to get rid of the tailings pile, which people thought was sort of an eye sore,” Smith said.

When the mill was opened in 1948, the government did not inform people of health hazards such as lung cancer that were caused by the radioactive waste, Smith said.

Shortly after the mill was opened, the government issued a cease-and-desist letter ordering people to stop using the tailings for construction projects, he said.

At the time, people did not realize how dangerous the waste was.

The tailings were used primarily for construction work and houses, he said.

In 1963, the uranium mill was transferred to Shiprock, New Mexico, and the uranium tailings were disposed of by the Atomic Energy Commission, Smith said.

The tailings from the mill were loaded into trucks and buried in Bodo Canyon, three miles west of the city, he said.

tferraro@durangoherald.com

Jul 3, 2014
U.S. 550/160 work halts


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