The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Legacy Management completed a report on defense-related uranium mine sites in consultation with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This report was submitted to Congress in summer 2014. We could not have accomplished this major endeavor without input and data offered by DOI, EPA, other federal agencies (e.g., U.S. Forest Service), affected states and tribes, and the public.This report summarizes data and information taken from four technical topic reports. These topic reports describe and analyze:
- Location and status of abandoned uranium mines that provided uranium ore for defense-related purposes which are on federal, state, tribal, and private lands
- Extent to which these mines pose a significant radiation hazard or other public health and safety threat, and cause, or have caused environmental degradation
- Potential cost and feasibility of reclamation and remediation in accordance with federal law
- Priority ranking for reclamation and remediation efforts
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 mandated that DOE prepare a report on defense-related uranium mines. Specifically, Section 3151 of the Act stated that “The Secretary of Energy, in consultation with the Secretary of the Interior and the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall undertake a review of, and prepare a report on, abandoned uranium mines in the United States that provided uranium ore for atomic energy defense activities of the United States."
Back to Defense-Related Uranium Mines Program page.
