EPA Web site
Release Date: 28 July 2009
Contact Information: Margot
Perez-Sullivan, 415-947-4149,
perezsullivan.margot@epa.gov
SAN FRANCISCO --
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency settled with United
Nuclear Corporation and General Electric, UNC’s indirect parent
corporation, requiring the companies to immediately clean up a
portion of radium-contaminated soil released from the Northeast
Church Rock Mine Site, near Gallup, N.M.
The settlement
requires UNC to excavate radium-contaminated soil in an area
closest to where people live -- up to Red Water Pond Road -- and
provide temporary housing for three homes that are within or
adjacent to the area being addressed. UNC will also clear
contaminated sediments out of the arroyo or wash. In addition, the
companies have agreed to reimburse the EPA up to $1.5 million in
past response costs at the mine, and additional costs the EPA may
incur later.
“This cleanup will
protect human health and the environment,” said Keith Takata, the
EPA’s Superfund director for the Pacific Southwest region. “This
soil removal will prevent direct human contact with the
radium-contaminated soil, and will expedite the cleanup at the
mine site.”
The EPA will
oversee the work required of UNC to remove and transport
contaminated soils temporarily to the Northeast Church Rock Mine,
and regrade the waste pile so it drains back to the mine, instead
of where people live, work, play and graze livestock. The Navajo
Nation EPA will continue to work with the EPA in reviewing cleanup
proposals and actions.
The 125-acre
Northeast Church Rock Mine site operated from approximately 1967
to 1982, and includes two underground uranium shafts, waste piles,
several surface ponds and buried waste.
In June, the EPA
released to the public various cleanup options for the entire mine
site. The public comment period, which was recently extended,
closes September 9.
Exposure to
elevated levels of radium over a long period of time may result in
harmful effects including anemia, cataracts, fractured teeth, and
cancer, especially bone cancer.
For more information, please go
to:
www.epa.gov/region9/necr
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