Leaching Radiation Waste Endangers California Tap Water

Congress is soon to reconvene, and a crucial item of unfinished congressional business directly affects the future health of millions of Californians.

A massive pile of radioactive mining wastes sits next to one of Southern California’s major sources of drinking water. Every day, radiation- and toxic chemical-polluted water from it is leaching into the Colorado River. The source is a gigantic, 10.5-million-ton mountain of uranium mill tailings--130 acres in area, 110 feet high--that sits on a flood plain two football field lengths from the river near Moab, Utah. The pile is a byproduct of 28 years of uranium milling operations by the Atlas Corp. More than 400 million gallons of contaminated water are thought to be contained in the Moab pile.

While most medical professionals would not consider the current low rate of contamination a health hazard, the situation could be very different if leaching of water through the pile accelerates. A wet winter or two could make that happen. No matter what the weather, however, this mountain of nuclear waste poses a clear and present danger that urgently has to be removed. And the only way the danger can be totally eliminated is by physically moving the pile, a daunting task that would cost a minimum of $150 million.

Right now, funding for this effort is not available, nor are adequate mechanisms for developing it. Atlas filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1998. Neither the federal government nor any of the states that use Colorado River water--Utah, California, Nevada or Arizona--is eager to pick up the tab. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the major federal agency overseeing Atlas’ environmental legacy, has not shown particular interest in getting the pile moved. The agency has stated, instead, that the much less costly option of capping it--essentially, pouring a thick layer of asphalt over the entire mound--would satisfy federal requirements. Price: About $20 million.

The problem with capping is that it won’t work. First, it will not completely stop the problem; estimates are that it would cut the current leaching rate by a about 93%. Second, over time the capping material ultimately will fail and be breached.

The Moab pile has to be moved to a topographically and environmentally more secure area if we are to be assured of a radiation-free water supply and if all life forms along the river below Moab are to be protected. To make this happen, action by the federal government--both for setting up appropriate mechanisms for the expensive and environmentally sensitive process and helping to pay for it--will be needed. Bills by U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) call for removal of radioactive material from the Moab site and mandate transfer of jurisdiction to the Department of Energy, which has more money and direct experience in moving tailings piles. But the bills, which didn’t get far in the last congressional session, do not authorize funding.

Considerable efforts will be needed to prevent a potential drinking water catastrophe. Strong and effective cooperation among the four states involved, along with the Metropolitan Water District and other affected water agencies, will be required. It will take an assertively united effort to resolve the Moab problem in a timely manner. It must be done.

Moab is a potent reminder of the threat of uncontrolled radiation to human health, as was Japan’s Tokaimura nuclear power accident almost four months ago. In that incident, 300,000 people were endangered and more than 200 were directly exposed to injurious doses when high-level radiation leaked from a uranium processing plant; last month, one man died. Picture a radiation crisis where that at-risk number could be multiplied by 50, and you have a worst-case scenario for what could happen if Southern California drinking water is contaminated.

Unlike Tokaimura, though, where a severe accident occurred in a matter of minutes, a Moab-induced crisis could take years to develop. If we act now, it will be possible to avert the crisis. A crucial lesson of Tokaimura was that we must be better prepared for nuclear incidents. Moab presents an opportunity to put the lesson into practice.