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Cold war-era uranium 'didn't travel very far'

Carson Walker, The Associated Press | Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2007 11:00 pm | (0) Comments

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buy this photo A sediment pit holds runoff from old uranium mines in Ludlow in this 2005 photo. Reflected in the water is the largest of 13 bluffs mined in the 1960s. The pond collects contaminated sediment from the runoff in northwest South Dakota. (Photo by Carson Walker, The Associated Press)

SIOUX FALLS - Contamination from Cold War-era uranium mines in northwest South Dakota spread mainly to the surrounding land and water, but some was detected 15 miles downstream, according to a new report.
"It's like it's a no-brainer that stuff was moving," said Laurie Walters-Clark with the U.S. Forest Service in Camp Crook. "The report simply proved what was suspected."
An earlier study of Forest Service land, on which the old mines from the 1950s and 1960s are located, found levels of arsenic, uranium and other contaminants in concentrations higher than what occurs naturally.
The latest report is the first to detail contamination on nearby private land and water.
"It didn't travel very far," said Jim Stone, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City.
The area studied for heavy metals and radioactive elements was around the North Cave Hills near Custer National Forest.
The Environmental Protection Agency also paid for studies of two other nearby mined areas, the South Cave Hills, which should be done this summer, and Slim Buttes, which will be started this year, Stone said.
Charmaine White Face of Rapid City, coordinator of the American Indian treaty rights group Defenders of the Black Hills, said she believes rain carried waste from the mines much farther downstream and deposited it during dry times.
"I'm still concerned about the water, surface water and groundwater. That report did not alleviate my fears," she said.
Because of that concern, researchers will survey land and water beyond the 15 miles where the study confirmed mining-related contamination, Stone said.
"We plan to collect sediment samples farther downstream into North Dakota," he said.
Near the mines, the uranium level in one creek was 23 times higher than normal, Stone said. Another hot spot on private land is an about 5-acre, 8-foot-deep deposit of uranium-containing coal called uraniferous lignite, he said.
"We know that's one area that needs to be cleaned up," Stone said.
Another place in need of more testing is a large abandoned mine on private land northeast of Ludlow that appears to be contaminating nearby water, Stone said.
"There are some fairly high concentrations and it appears to be moving off the site," he said.
Besides going over the results with landowners and checking for long-distance contamination, researchers will also do other surveys this summer that will help them develop a cleanup plan, which could include removing it or capping it, he said.
The estimated cost will likely top $22 million.
The company responsible, Oklahoma City-based Tronox, formerly Kerr-McGee Chemical, has started working with landowners, Walters-Clark said.
Its vice president of communications, Debbie Schramm, said Tronox will study the area this summer to come up with a plan to control runoff and reclaim the land.
She said one urgent need is a retention pond to capture sediment from Bluff B, which is the most contaminated.
Tronox will also review the School of Mines report and work with private landowners to reach agreements with them, Schramm said.
Field work will take several years and the areas then will be monitored for at least three years, she said.
Randy Feist, who owns land near the mines and lives there, lost a kidney to cancer and said he believes the contamination is responsible for it and other people's health problems in the area.
But because there are so few residents, health experts can't compile statistics that prove anything and, consequently, no law firm is interested in representing them, he said.
Feist wants to see less calculation of the contamination and more cleanup.
"Now we have a feel for how far it's gone," he said. "Let's just get it done."

Posted in Top-stories on Sunday, May 20, 2007 11:00 pm

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