About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

EMD-79-51 1 (1979-04-05)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaayxf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: UNITED STATES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20548 ENEIGY AND MIMNRALS IVISION APRIL 5, 1979 B-164052 The Honorable John, W. Wydler H~ IIf House of Representatives 109013 Dear Mr. Wydler: On February 5, 1979, we issued a report entitled Cleaning Up Commingled Uranium Mill Tailings: Is Federal Assistance Necessary? (EMD-79-29). In that report, we rec- ommended that the Congress provide assistance to active mill owners to share the cost of cleaning up the portion of com- mingled uranium mill tailings generated as a result of proc- essing uranium for sale to the Federal Government. There are about 54 million tons of these low-level radioactive wastes at 12 active sites throughout the United States. On February 23, 1979, you notified us that you were in general agreement with our recommendations. However, you also asked us for our comments on your views about the report. These views generally pertain to the need for additional in- formation on the --various methods to cleanup, or control, the uranium mill tailings; and --estimates of premature deaths caused by the radiation at the uranium mill tailings sites. URANIUM MILL TAILINGS CONTROL METHODS As we stated in our report, about 85 percent of the total radioactivity originally in uranium ore remains in the tailings after removal of the uranium. This happens because radium and thorium--the principal contributors of radioactive emissions--are not normally removed from the ore during mill- ing. Of the two, radiui is the more significant radioactive waste product in the tailings. It has a very long life, tak- ing thousands of years before it loses its radioactivity. This loss--called radioactive decay--produces two dis- tinct types of hazards. The first type is highly penetrat- ing gamma radiation which, with sufficient exposure, can EMD-79-51 (990516)

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most