"Taking all facts into account, we believe the recommendations issued today provide the best solution to cleaning up Moab and protecting the river," Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said. "The Colorado River is the life-blood of the Southwest."
Bodman had announced in April the DOE planned to move the tailings, but Monday, the department released the final environmental impact statement, a key step in the process.
The document details the DOE plans to ship the 10.5 million tons of tailings by rail to a lined disposal cell at Crescent Junction, 30 miles to the north, and remediation of the groundwater at the defunct Atlas Corp. mill site.
"Millions of people near Moab and throughout the Southwest have good reason to fear for their drinking water," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in a statement. "We shouldn't have this radioactive waste so close to the Colorado River. The DOE made the right decision to move this pile to a safe location."
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said he is "very happy with how this worked out."
"This is something I've been working on for three years and this is where we want it be," he said. "Now we've got to raise the money to move it."
He said the Energy Department has already asked for more money in its remediation fund than it has in the past and made a commitment to funding the move.
The Energy Department expects surface and groundwater remediation of the site to cost $472 million.
"The Department of Energy recognizes this is what they've got to do and I think the money is going to be there," Matheson said. He says there should still be money provided to study the extent to which the site has contaminated the aquifer that provides drinking water for Moab and the area.
The Atlas Corp. mill processed uranium during the Cold War.
The mill was shut down in 1984 and Atlas declared bankruptcy in 1998, leaving the federal government responsible for the pile, which despite having an interim cap to keep the tailings in place continued to contaminate the groundwater and the nearby Colorado River.
The public will have 30 days to comment on the environmental impact before the decision is finalized.
