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For Immediate Release Wednesday, December 15, 2004
STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT ISSUES LICENSE TO COTTER URANIUM MILL
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Contact:
Cindy Parmenter
Communications Director
(303) 692-2013 – Office
(303) 891-8382 – Pager
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Marion Galant
Community Involvement Manager,
Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division
(303) 692-3304 – Office
1-888-569-1831 x3304
(303) 919-5262 - Cell |
DENVER - The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has issued a
renewal license to Cotter Corporation for its Cañon City milling operation. The
new license will allow the facility to continue to process uranium and vanadium
ore, but not to accept radioactive waste from other sites solely for disposal.
The license, a five-year renewal of Cotter’s original 1958 license, will go into
effect at the end of 60 days unless parties to the renewal, such as Cotter,
request a hearing during that 60-day period. If requested, a hearing before an
independent hearing officer must be scheduled with 90 days advance notice. The
department then would consider the hearing officer’s conclusions and make a
final decision.
Howard Roitman, the department’s director of environmental programs, said, “This
is a very complex, multifaceted process, and there has been extensive
involvement from local and state government and by a large sector of the public.
The licensing process has been both highly interactive and diligent.”
Roitman continued, “Two legislative bills in the previous three years,
H.B.02-1408 and H.B.03-1358, introduced by State Representative Lola Spradley,
R-Beulah, and State Representative. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, have required an
analysis of the socioeconomic impacts of the possible future uses of the mill
site and extensive public involvement. We have addressed the letter, as well as
the intent, of those requirements.”
Steve Tarlton, unit leader of the department’s Radiation Management Unit in its
Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division, explained that three general
outcomes were considered by the state in making the decision on the license
renewal.
These included, he said, re-licensure under the same general requirements as the
existing license; expanding the license to allow Cotter to accept a greater
range of materials, including the direct disposal of materials without
processing at the site; or a license solely to cover the decommissioning of the
facility, which is estimated to take 5-to-15 years.
Tarlton said, “The state has licensed Cotter on the basis of the first option.”
Requirements of the new license, which includes numerous qualifications and
conditions, are:
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Review of site procedures by the department.
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Improved environmental and worker safety.
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Enhanced security at the site.
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Full-scale processing of Western Slope uranium ore may proceed after a
Department of Public Health and Environment readiness review process and final
approval of startup.
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Continued evaluation of the effectiveness of the primary impoundment liner.
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Enhanced monitoring of operations for possible contamination of ground water
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Development and delivery to the department of information requested for the
license review but not available within the review’s required time frame.
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Processing of off-specification yellowcake, the first step in uranium
refinement for the nuclear fuel process, and zirconium will be allowed on a
pilot basis only.
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Calcium fluoride processing will be approved on a case-by-case basis.
Significant changes to the impoundments also are included in the license. They
are:
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Cotter is to switch to the dry placement of tailings.
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Cotter is to provide an accelerated plan and schedule to dewater the
impoundments.
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Possession limits for the impoundments are based on the amount currently in
the impoundments, plus what Cotter anticipates generating during the life of
this five-year license, and on estimated clean-up volumes required for Cotter
property cleanup, rather than on calculated capacity.
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Cotter is to evaluate the best available control technology to replace the
yellowcake calcining, or baking, system.
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Cotter is to measure particulate releases from the yellowcake stacks.
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Emergency, incident and accident response reporting requirements are being
increased.
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All facility upgrades involving major construction and process changes shall
be approved by the department.
Environmental/Decommissioning requirements of the license include:
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Developing and initiating a ground water monitoring system for the mill areas
sufficient to determine ground water flow and contaminant levels from the mill
complex.
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Increasing the number of wells for leak detection monitoring of the
impoundments.
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Characterizing of on-site and off-site contamination for decommissioning
planning and implementation.
Requests for a hearing on the license should be sent in writing to Steve
Tarlton, Radiation Management Unit leader at
steve.tarlton@state.co.us or at
Radiation Management Unit, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment,
4300 Cherry Creek Drive South, Denver, CO 80246.
The prohibition against direct disposal would prevent Cotter’s acceptance of
future waste from the Maywood, New Jersey, Superfund site, with the exception of
the proposed first shipment, currently under review by a court-approved arbiter.
Cotter’s request to accept the first shipment of Maywood waste was denied by the
department last July. Cotter then appealed that decision to the arbiter whose
decision is expected in early 2005.
Questions about the license should be sent in writing to:
Steve Tarlton, Radiation Management Unit Leader, Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment,
4300 Cherry Creek South, Bldg. B2,
Denver, CO 80246
Fax: (303) 759-1827
steve.tarlton@state.co.us
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