On our way back to our campsite after going to Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah on July 1 we stopped at a uranium mine. Uranium was extracted from the mine from 1962- 1984 until in it was taken over by the Department of Energy. The Department of Energy put 720 million dollars into the building of a new rail line to move the radioactive waste to secure locations. The site is listed under RCRA to make sure the public would not have a say in what was done with the site.
Sign outside of mine.
Uranium has a half-life of 700 million years and its alpha particles are blocked by the screen .Even so it is still concerning thought because the works removing the waste at the mine do not wear protective clothing.
The mine is a concern to us on the trip because it is right next to the Colorado River. A burm was created to prevent flooding into the site but some of the radioactive material still who knows might have leached into the water.
Vocab word of the day:
Tailing- any rock material that you have extracted all the usefulness from it.
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