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Plant will close its 40-acre secondary impoundment pond Cotter has committed to close its 40-acre secondary impoundment pond with its recent license amendment with the state, plant manager John Hamrick told the Lincoln Park/Cotter Superfund Community Advisory Group on Thursday. About 20 people gathered at Garden Park High School for the monthly CAG meeting. Hamrick said the agreement also calls for Cotter to establish a timeline for certain actions, including a March 31 deadline for a commitment letter. That document will detail Cotter's plans to either close its uranium plant south of Cañon City, the site of a Superfund cleanup, or retool it for continued production.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with United Nuclear Corp. and its parent company, General Electric Co., to clean up soil near the most badly contaminated former uranium mine on the Navajo Nation. Rain and flash floods carry the radium-contaminated soil from the abandoned Northeast Church Rock Mine near Gallup, N.M., down an arroyo where children play and livestock graze. Long-term exposure to such soil can lead to cataracts, fractured teeth and cancer, according to the EPA. Under the agreement announced this week, United Nuclear will remove 3 to 13 feet of soil from the arroyo and surrounding areas and bring in clean dirt. The company also will regrade a uranium waste pile so that it drains back to the mine instead of where people live.

Uranium Resources Inc. and Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency began a weeklong assessment Monday of Section 17 in Churchrock where its subsidiary, Hydro Resources Inc., has proposed in situ mining of uranium. Rick Van Horn, chief operating officer for URI/HRI, said Tuesday that the two entities are looking at what the radiation values are and how they impact the air, soils, and water in the area of Section 17. As part of the field work, background levels will be established under the review of Navajo EPA. "We have people that are looking over our shoulders providing oversight on-site, real time, and that will be part of the data set that we collect," Van Horn said.