Operations at the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) project in Utah resumed within just a few days earlier this month after a truck overturned while carrying a load of waste, an Energy Department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
A truck carrying a container of uranium mill tailings rolled onto its side while rounding a corner at about 9 a.m. MST on Monday, Feb. 10, the DOE spokesperson said by email. No one was injured.
The accident happened on a road heading uphill to the rail facility, where containers are loaded onto trains for transport to a waste site 30 miles away at Crescent Junction, according a DOE accident report. The driver was taken to site’s clinic for a post-accident drug test.
Personnel at Crescent Junction were briefed on the accident and discussed similar hazards present at their location. The Union Pacific train shipment for the day was canceled.
The release was contained to the site and limited operations resumed Feb. 12, with shipments restarting Feb. 13, the spokesperson added. Less than half of the tailings being carried in the container spilled onto the ground and were gathered up within a couple days. The spokesperson did not say specifically how much material spilled.
The mishap was initially reported Feb. 21 in The Times-Independent newspaper.
Contractor North Wind Portage (NWP) is responsible for removal and disposal of 16 million tons of tailings from the old Atlas Mineral Corp. uranium ore processing site. The company’s current $154 million five-year task order expires after September 2021. About 10.3 million tons of the material had been shipped to the disposal site, the spokesperson said by email Thursday.
In November, DOE issued a request for information for vendors that might be interested in bidding on the next round of Moab work.
The Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina enacted an emergency response Tuesday morning when a vehicle attempting to enter a secure area activated explosive detection systems.
Site barricades remained open through the duration of the emergency response and there was “no indication of a consequence beyond the Savannah River Site boundaries,” according to the first of two press releases on the event, issued at 10:05 a.m.
Law enforcement officials investigated the vehicle and gave the all clear, the site said in a second release at 12:53 p.m.
The second release references a return to normal operations, indicating work had been limited to some degree during the incident. But site officials declined to confirm what work was put on pause.
Media personnel at the 310-square-mile site near Aiken, S.C. also would not confirm how exactly the vehicle triggered explosive detection devices. It was there for “routine work,” according to the site.
“Protecting workers, the public, the environment and national security interests are our highest goals at the Savannah River Site,” the second release says.
The Savannah River Site receives an annual budget of more than $2 billion, and conducts work for the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) and semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
The site’s EM work largely includes the treatment of more than 35 million gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste, generated from weapons production during the Cold War. That mission includes the cleaning and closing of 40-plus underground waste tanks, and the temporary storage of treated waste on site until the U.S. decides on a permanent repository.
Under the NNSA, site work includes tritium production for the U.S. Department of Defense, and the processing of spent nuclear fuel, which reduces the threat of the materials being used to create weapons.
