Proposed Alternative Soils Standards for the Uravan, Colorado Uranium Mill

By letter dated October 10, 2007, the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE)'s, Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division (the Division) submitted a proposal for alternative standards for soil clean up in four areas of the Uravan Site in Montrose County, Colorado. The Division approved the proposed alternative standards and requested the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC or the Commission) concurrence. Colorado's proposed alternative soil standards are to leave the remaining radioactive contamination in place in these four areas without any further remediation. The NRC staff has determined that Colorado's proposal constitutes use of alternative standards. Under Section 274o of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), the Commission must make a determination that such alternatives will achieve a level of stabilization and containment of the sites concerned, and a level of protection for public health, safety, and the environment from radiological and non-radiological hazards associated with such sites, after notice and opportunity for public hearing. Through this action, the Commission intends to fulfill both the notice and opportunity for public hearing provisions of Section 274o.