Joette Langianese, a Grand County Council member who keeps tab on the cleanup, said the news is welcomed, a signal that real work could begin in a matter of weeks.
"We're just happy to get the pile moved in a timely fashion," she said. "And, if the way to do that is by truck, we'll be okay with that."
The 130-acre pile of uranium-processing waste, called "tailings," have been leaching ammonia, uranium and other contaminants into the Colorado River, which serves more than 25 million people downstream.
The pile is located just north of Moab in eastern Utah, on U.S. Highway 191 within a mile of the Arches National Park entrance. Congress last month ordered the pile removed by 2019, but Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has since said the project won't be done until 2025.
"The department is committed to ensuring the protection of human health and the environment in the Moab area and in the communities served by the Colorado River," said Jim Rispoli, DOE assistant secretary for environmental management. "Today's announcement is a step forward in fulfilling our Cold War cleanup obligations by moving the tailings pile in a safe and expeditious manner."
Past efforts to haul the tailings to the mesa-top north of the Potash Road have faltered. A conveyor belt was considered. And flash flooding and erosion have nixed the idea of using a specially built haul road to the rail spur at the mesa top.
Locals originally frowned upon the idea of sending hundreds of dump trucks 30 miles up the highway to dump the contaminated soil and debris in a soon-to-be-built landfill at Crescent Junction. It had a lower price tag but a higher expected safety cost because of the narrow highway.
But the road has been upgraded and the cost of upgrading a new rail spur has climbed, said DOE spokeswoman Joann Wardrip.
"I am pleased the department has examined other transportation options to expedite the cleanup of the Moab site in a more cost efficient way," said U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah.
Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions has been awarded the contract to design and install a tailings-removal waste handling system and the initial work on moving tailings to the Crescent Junction. The company is expected to offer projections for using trucks in the cleanup in a few weeks, the DOE said.
