After the COVID-19 pandemic struck the U.S. in 2020, Department of Energy contractor North Wind Portage actually hauled more contaminated material away from an old uranium ore processing site outside Moab, Utah, than it did during a corresponding period in 2019.
That is according to data posted online by the DOE Office of Environmental Management in connection with its February request for proposals for the new Moab Remedial Action Contract, potentially worth $614-million over 15 years.
During the seven months from March 2020 through September 2020, which marked the end of fiscal 2020, roughly 559,000 tons of residual radioactive material was excavated from the old Atlas Minerals Corp.’s uranium-ore processing facility at Moab and hauled 30 miles to the Crescent Junction landfill site, according to the data. The data in the chart does not extend beyond September 2020.
By contrast, from March 2019 through September 2019, the total material removed from the tailings pile was roughly 538,000.
The Moab project is unique in the DOE weapons complex because many of its 140 workers are heavy equipment operators who work with minimal direct contact with other employees, an agency spokesperson said last year. As a result, Moab largely sustained normal operations while other DOE sites scaled back physical work in 2020 due to the pandemic, DOE said.
Bids on the new small business contract to replace the existing five-year $187-million business held by North Wind, are due by March 29.
In addition to hauling away the contaminated material from the Moab tailings site and burying it at Crescent Junction. The new contractor will also be required to install final coverings and remediate both the Moab and Crescent Junction sites, according to DOE.
Entering 2021, 11.2 million tons of the 16 million tons of contaminated material at the Moab site have been removed so far, according to DOE data.
