Skip to main content

Remedial Action at the Moab Site: Now and for the Long Term Letter Report (2002) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Letter to Assistant Secretary Jessie Roberson, Office of Environmental Management
Pages 1-6

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 1...
... This site, located adjacent to the Colorado River in Moab, Utah, contains a pile of roughly 12 million tons of uranium mill tailings and contaminated soils. The National Research Council, the chief operating arm of the National Academies, charged its Committee on Long-Term Institutional Management of DOE Legacy Waste Sites: Phase 2 with providing the requested assistance (see Appendix B of the accompanying report for the committee roster)
Read the entire page →
From page 2...
... While the committee makes recommendations about what factors should be considered in making these choices, the decisions themselves are properly made by elected and appointed government officials. DOE should undertake further, but bounded, investigations of several unresolved questions related to science and engineering in order to arrive at a sound remediation .
Read the entire page →
From page 3...
... The committee recommends that DOE assess each alternative for disposition of the Moab pile on the basis of its entire life-cycle, including the demands for long-term institutional management (LTIM) actions, where LTIM comprises the total system of protection, including contaminant reduction, contaminant isolation, and long-term stewardship.
Read the entire page →
From page 4...
... Public involvement and community support or acceptance can also form a foundation for the creation of effective institutions and practices for ~ong-term management of residual hazards at the site. The committee finds that Moab is a promising location to pursue the recommendations of previous committees of the National Research Council addressing public participation in riskbased decisionmaking.
Read the entire page →
From page 5...
... The committee particularly recommends that DOE examine cost data (initial bids and final costs) to identify where the costs significantly exceeded early estimates, which could help DOE judge whether cost estimates for the remediation alternatives at the Moab Site are reliable and could be improved.
Read the entire page →
From page 6...
... C Can socia/ capacity for /ong-term monitoring of the site tsJ and appropriate response to the failure of engineered barriers be provided re/iab/y, so that the consequences of failures can be managed? D Wou/d loss of even a substanfia/ portion of the pi/e into the Colorado River produce only small and transitory consequences downstream?
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • remediation alternative
  • colorado river
  • remediation alternatives
  • engineered barriers
  • institutional management

  • remediation decision
  • net difference
  • ground water
  • risk analysis
  • relevant time

  • endangered species
  • legacy waste
  • questions related
  • critically examine
  • primary remediation

  • unresolved questions
  • public participation
  • cost estimates
  • affected parties
  • tailings piles

  • site remediation
  • time frames
  • committee makes
  • contaminated ground
  • doe legacy

  • sound remediation
  • managing tailings
  • technical basis
  • final decision
  • earliest phases


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.