Years this material was created: 1960-1990; bulk dates 1978-1989
Quantity: 2.2 linear shelf feet (in 5 document cases)
 © 1998- 2006 by Fort Lewis College Foundation, Center of Southwest Studies account

Links to contents

Preface	Introduction/  Scope and contents	Historical note	Series descriptions
		Administrative information	Related collections
Container list	Index	Center of Southwest Studies collection inventories	Center of Southwest Studies

This collection contains brochures, press releases, newspaper clippings, reports, statements, minutes, memoranda, correspondence and other printed materials pertaining to the U.S. Department of Energy's cleanup of radioactive uranium waste at the site of a former uranium mill in Durango, Colorado.

This collection documents work supervised by the U.S. Department of Energy, Albuquerque Operations Office, throughout the 1980s to perform remedial actions on an inactive uranium mill tailings site in Durango, Colorado.  The collection includes numerous reports of studies of the effects of such radioactive waste, environmental impact statements in draft and final form, and records of the local Task Force which include a record of public opinion.

Possible uses for this collection include research into future uses for the Durango site, effects of the contaminated materials on the Bodo Canyon disposal site (including interrelationships of that site with the Animas-La Plata water project), remedial actions on other similar sites, and studies of the partnership of a community, private industry, and federal, state, and local governments in solving a difficult problem.

Access terms:
Durango (Colo.) Uranium Mill Tailings Removal Project
United States. Department of Energy. Albuquerque Office
Vanadium Corporation of America
Radioactive waste disposal in the ground--Colorado--Durango
Uranium mill tailings--Colorado--Durango
Water resources development--Environmental aspects--Colorado--La Plata County
Mines and mineral resources--Four Corners
Uranium industry--Colorado--Durango
Uranium mines and mining--Colorado--Colorado Plateau

Views of the Durango smelter online on the Center of Southwest Studies website:

http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/images/P001/P00110121Page.htm  -- close-up view from nearly above

http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/images/P001/P00110427Page.htm  -- in the flood of 1911

The Durango site of the former Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill was one of twenty-four selected for cleanup in 10 states and various Indian reservations, and was among the first such federal projects completed.  UMTRA (Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action) cleanup costs exceeded $500 million.  Congress passed PL95-604, the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978, after a determination that uranium mill tailings may pose a radiation health hazard to the public.  The Act charged the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and the DOE (Department of Energy) with setting standards to reduce radiation emissions at the most dangerous mill tailings sites in the U.S. (Deborah Uroda, "Congress says tailings dangerous," Durango Herald, 12 Dec. 1984, page 10A)  The Act directed "that every reasonable effort be made to provide for the stabilization, disposal, and control of the tailings in a safe and environmentally sound manner.  The DOE was given the responsibility for carrying out the program." (UMTRA brochure, undated, in Box 1, folder 1)

According to a DOE brochure, "much of the uranium ore mined in the United States from the early 1940s through the 1960s was processed by private companies for the Federal government and used for national defense programs, and in research.  When the Federal contracts terminated, most of the processing plants shut down and the mills and tailings piles were left essentially uncontrolled."  Tailings, a sand-like waste, represented about 98% of the ore that entered the mill.  The principal potential health hazard of uranium tailings is that they emit radon, albeit in small amounts.  "Radon is a colorless, inert, radioactive gas formed by the radioactive decay of radium, an element found with uranium in the ore." (UMTRA brochure, undated, in Box 1, folder 1)

The project moved 2.5 million cubic yards of  low-level radioactive mill tailings from the old mill site across the Animas River just south of downtown Durango, to a tailings burial site in Bodo Canyon, approximately three miles southwest of the "Bodo Property."  At the Bodo Canyon disposal site they were consolidated into an engineered embankment and covered with earth and rock.  The disposal site is owned by the Federal government, whereas the original tailings site was released for any uses consistent with local zoning ordinances. (Durango UMTRA brochure, Dec. 1986, in Box 1, folder 1)

The project involved the formation of the Durango Task Force in 1979 to serve as a communications link between the DOE and the community.  Demolition of the old smelter smoke stack was one of several issues which provoked much public comment, as shown by articles in the Durango Herald and fact sheets distributed by citizens groups.  The Colorado Department of Health also was involved in the UMTRA project. (Durango UMTRA brochure, Dec. 1986, in Box 1, folder 1)

Earlier history of the Durango site (the following was written by William L. Chenoweth and is used by his permission, September 2006):

"The Durango site was originally acquired by the American Smelting and Refining Company for the construction and operation of a lead smelter.  In 1942, the site was acquired by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a government agency, to convert the plant to recover vanadium from carnotite ores.  The U.S. Vanadium Corporation (USV) was selected as the contractor to convert and operate the plant.  The vanadium was to be supplied to the Metals Reserve Company, a subsidiary of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.  Metals Reserve was created to acquire some 40 commodities for the nation’s strategic stockpile, including vanadium.  USV also operated vanadium ore buying stations for Metals Reserve in southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah.  These stations were located at Durango, Rico, Dove Creek and Gateway, Colorado and at Monticello, Moab and Thompson, Utah.  There was also a station at Farmington, New Mexico.  The ore buying records of these stations are now in the Metals Reserve files at the National Archives, Rocky Mountain Region, Denver, Colorado.

In early 1943 the Manhattan Engineer District (MED) contracted with USV to build and operate a “green sludge” plant at the Durango millsite.  This plant recovered uranium from the vanadium mill tailings.  The green sludge was shipped to Grand Junction, Colorado, where a refinery operated by USV for the MED produced a uranium concentrate (yellow cake).

By February 1944, Metals Reserve had acquired 6 million pounds of vanadium oxide at plants in Colorado and Utah, and the vanadium program was cancelled.  USV purchased the mill and continued to operate it and the green sludge plant until the fall of 1945, when both were closed.  In 1946 the green sludge plant was torn down.

In 1948, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission bought the vanadium mill from USV and leased it to the Vanadium Corporation of America (VCA) with an option to buy it.  VCA added a uranium circuit and on June 30, 1953, exercised the option to buy the plant and it became the property of VCA.

VCA continued to operate the Durango plant until March 1963 when the company moved its milling operations to Shiprock, New Mexico, where VCA had purchased the mill of Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, Inc.  VCA merged into the Foote Minerals company in September, 1967.  Through several corporate mergers, the VCA records today are with the Phelps Dodge Corporation in Phoenix, Arizona.  Union Carbide never acquired VCA."  (For a related history of Union Carbide in this area, click here.)

Administrative information

Acquisition information: The collection includes two cubic feet of printed reports, minutes and other records maintained by Harold Steinhoff of Durango, member of the Mill Tailings Task Force, which Steinhoff donated to the Center of Southwest Studies in July of 1992.  Also, ten folders of similar materials donated by Connie Albrecht and 3 folders of related materials donated by Roy Craig through Fort Lewis College Professor Duane Smith in July of 1987.

Processing information:  This inventory was prepared by J. Todd Ellison on November 10, 1992 and revised May 1994, September 18, 1998 and September 21, 2000; initial html conversion was by Jesse Davila on September 19, 1998.  Student archival assistant Haley Sladek produced the hyperlinks from the index to the folder lists, October 2005.

Related collections at the Center of Southwest Studies (listed alphabetically by title, which is preceded by the collection number):

• I  094:    Airborne gamma-ray spectrometer and magnetometer survey, Cortez Quad (Colo. and Utah) final report on microfiche (75 microfiche).  Report of a study conducted for the U.S. Department of Energy, Grand Junction office, under Bendix Field Engineering Corporation, Grand Junction Operations subcontract no. 78-179-L, project no. 40-78-4131, circa 1979.

• M 004 and I 046: American Zinc, Lead and Smelting Company records (1.5 document cases and 7 rolls of microfilm).  Records pertaining to Colorado mines and mining, 1901-1957.

• I 073:    Atomic bomb development records (RG 77) on microfilm (14 rolls of microfilm).  Harrison-Bundy files relating to the development of the atomic bomb, 1942-1946 (M1108, 9 rolls), and correspondence ("Top Secret") of the Manhattan Engineer District, 1942-1946 (M1109, 5 rolls).

• P 032:    Colorado mining towns slide transparencies (approximately 500 slides).  Oversize color slide transparencies of former mining scenes and towns of Colorado, especially on the Western Slope, 1960-1989.  Arranged alphabetically by place name.  

• M 060:    Four Corners Environmental Research Institute (FOCERI) collection (6 document cases + 12 records boxes).  Minutes, correspondence and memos, financial records, maps, project records, and engineering/environmental assessment reports re: various projects in the Four Corners region, including the Durango uranium mill tailings site, La Plata County coal mining, Colorado River tributaries, electric transmission power lines in southern and southwestern Colorado, and other topics researched by FOCERI.

• M 229:    Langan W. Swent papers: Health and safety in underground uranium mines

• M 223:    Page L. Edwards papers (4 boxes).  From the late 1950s through the early 1970s Mr. Edwards was a geological engineer at the Vanadium Corp. of America (VCA) plant in Durango and was the General Manager of the VCA plant in Shiprock, New Mexico.

• I  096:    Southwest Geological Studies reports, on 23 microfiche.  Includes reports on modes of uranium occurrences in Colorado Front Range by Robert H. Carpenter; detailed uranium hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of the Tallahassee Creek...in the northwestern part of the Pueblo Nims Quad, Colo., by Spencer S. Shannon, Jr.; hydrogeochemical and stream sediment reconnaissance of nure by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory; engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Durango site; geology...of the...Needle Mountains, SW Colorado…

• F 004:    Southwest mining artifacts.  Includes a framed photo with uranium samples in vials from the plant at Naturita, Colorado, and a piece of petrified wood with uranium dust on it.  Contact the curator regarding these and any other artifacts.

• I 093:    Toxic release inventory reports for Colorado (92 microfiche).  Includes introduction, chemical substance index, facility name index and other indexes, and toxic release inventory reports for Colorado, 1987-1988.

• M 187:    Union Carbide Western U.S. 20th century mining collection (287 linear shelf feet).  Mining company operation records regarding the mining and processing of uranium, tungsten, vanadium and other base metals in the Western U.S., esp. the Four Corners region. 1920-1990.

• M 007:    Uranium mining collection (3 document cases).  Newspaper clippings, articles, and other printed materials and photographs concerning various mills relating to the uranium rush on the Colorado Plateau, 1940-1958; donated by Denny W. Viles, Vice President of the Vanadium Corporation of America, and other sources.

• See also this online resource at the Southwest Studies Center's website: Surface Mining Regulation and Reclamation: Bibliography and Abstracts of Research Reports, completed 1978 and 1998.

Arrangement note: Series and the folders within them are organized from highest hierarchical level to lowest, or from most general to most specific.  Items within each series (e.g., clippings, reports, correspondence, and memoranda) are arranged chronologically.

Series 1:     Public relations materials, 1978-1990 (bulk 1980s), 1 document case

Series 2:     Engineering, environmental studies, etc. reports, 1960-1961 and 1980-1989, 3 document cases

Series 3:     Durango Tailings Task Force records, 1979 (Chamber of Commerce Committee), and 1983-1987, 1 document case

Box 1:     Public relations materials, 1978-1990 (bulk 1980s)

Folder 1     Brochures and circulars/ by U.S. Department of Energy, et al., circa 1986.

Folder 2     DOE News fact sheets and press releases/ by U.S. Department of Energy, et al., 1982-1990. Includes invitation to closing ceremonies at Durango site on 1 Nov. 1990.

Folder 3     Newspaper clippings/ from Durango Herald, et al., 1979-1989 (bulk 1984-1987).

Folder 4     Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978, et al., 1978-1983.

Folder 5     U.S. Department of Energy - State of Colorado cooperative agreement, 1981 Oct.

Folder 6     Annual status report on the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1983 Dec.

Folder 7     Annual status report on the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1986 Dec.

Folder 8     Annual status report on the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1987 Dec.

Folder 9     Annual status report on the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1988 Dec.

Folder 10     Annual status report on the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1989 Dec.

Folder 11     Colorado economic impact study: briefing package and fact sheet/ by Jacobs Engineering Group, 1985 Dec.

Folder 12     Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action project in Colorado/ by Colorado. Department of Health, 1987 Feb.

Folder 13     1987 annual report/ by Colorado. Department of Health. Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division, 1988 Apr.

Folder 14     Two typical TLDs, undated.

Folder 15     Remedial action concept paper for stabilization of the inactive uranium mill tailings sites at Rifle, Colorado, and cover letter, 1983 June-July.

Folder 16     Other sites, press releases and reports/ by U.S. Department of Energy, et al., 1984-1987

Folder 17     Recent information on remedial action at the Shiprock, New Mexico, inactive uranium mill tailings site/ by Southwest Research and Information Center, 1984 Sept. 24.

Folder 18     Shiprock, New Mexico, tailings remedial actions photographs, 1985 Nov.

Folder 19     Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge draft plan, etc., 1985-1987.

Folder 20     Briefing for selected state legislators by the Colorado Department of Health and the U.S. Department of Energy on the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project (UMTRAP) in Colorado, 1985 Feb. 22 (1 volume). 

Folder 1     Control of radioactive pollution of the Animas River/ by E. C. Tsivogou, et al., 1960

Folder 2     Radioecology: proceedings...Sept. 10-15, 1961/ ed. by Vincent Schultz and Alfred W. Klement, Jr.

Folder 3     Radiological survey of the inactive uranium-mill tailings at Durango, Colorado/ by F. F. Haywood, et al., 1980 Mar.

Folder 4     Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Durango site/ by Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah, 1981 June.

Folder 5     Analysis of cancer risk associated with low-level radiation from uranium tailings in Durango, Colorado, term paper/ by Daniel Judkins, 1981 Sept. 17.

Folder 6     Durango site status report photocopy/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1983 Mar. 9.

Folder 7     Environmental impact statement for remedial actions on uranium mill tailings/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1984 July.

Folder 8     Discussion of the lung cancer risk resulting from radon exposure to the general population, report/ by Julie Overbaugh, 1984 Sept.

Folder 9     Remedial actions at the former Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill site, Durango...: draft environmental impact statement, vol. 1 (text)/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1984 Oct.

Folder 10     Remedial actions at the former Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill site, Durango...: draft environmental impact statement, vol. 2 (appendices)/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1984 Oct.

Folder 11     Remedial actions at the former Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill site, Durango...: draft environmental impact statement, exhibits photocopies/ by U.S. Department of Energy, circa 1984.

Folder 1     Remedial actions at the former Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill site, Durango...: position papers, circa Jan. 1985.

Folder 2     Technical summary of the UMTRA Project Technology Development Program (1980-1984): final/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1985 Jan.

Folder 3     Remedial actions at the former Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill site, Durango...: final environmental impact statement, vol. 1 (text)/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1985 Oct.

Folder 4     Remedial actions at the former Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill site, Durango...: final environmental impact statement, vol. 2 (appendices)/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1985 Oct.

Folder 5     Remedial action plan and site design for stabilization of the inactive uranium mill tailings site at Durango, Colorado/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1986 June.

Folder 6     Subcontract documents/ by MK-Ferguson Company, 1986 May and Aug.

Folder 7     Durango site project request for proposal from City of Durango/ by MK-Ferguson Company, 1986 Aug. 21.

Folder 8     Radiological support plan and environmental, health, and safety plan, undated (circa 1986).

Folder 9     Health physics monitoring plan, Durango, Colorado site/ by Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc., 1986 Oct. 30.

Folder 1     Preliminary case report of the Durango smelter stack/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1986 Oct.

Folder 2     San Juan and New York smelter stack and superintendent's house, photographs photocopies, written and descriptive data/ by National Park Service, circa 1986.

Folder 3     Durango smelter stack printed materials/ compiled by Roy Craig, 1987.

Folder 4     Morrison Knudsen publicity materials, circa 1986.

Folder 5     The em-Kayan: magazine of "MK"/ by Morrison Knudsen, 1986 July and 1987 Jan.

Folder 6     Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc. descriptive pamphlet, [198-].

Folder 7     Radiation and risk on the UMTRA project, report/ by H. R. Meyer of Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc., undated.

Folder 8     Basic standard for ground water: notice of final adoption/ by Colorado. Water Quality Control Commission, 1987 Jan. 15.

Folder 9     Tailing pile remedial action project bar charts/ by U.S. Department of Energy and MK-Ferguson Company, 1987 Mar.

Folder 10     Ambient air monitoring program protocol/ by MK-Ferguson Company, 1987 July.

Folder 11     Surveillance and maintenance plan draft/ by U.S. Department of Energy, 1988 Feb.

Folder 12     Durango site information report/ by MK-Ferguson Company, 1988 Sept. and Nov.

Folder 13     Dolores Project, Colorado: final supplement to the final environmental statement/ by U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Reclamation, 1989 Mar.

To access this long list  (page numbers are references to printed inventory):
(Or you can do a keyword search of this file by using the Edit-> Find in Page (Ctrl+F) feature on your Web browser.)

Bar charts
Basic standard for ground water
Bid materials
Bodo Canyon disposal site
Briefing for selected state legislators by the Colorado Department of Health
Brochures and circulars

Cancer risk associated with low-level radiation from uranium tailings
Cancer risk resulting from radon exposure
Chem-Nuclear Systems, Inc.
Colorado economic impact study: briefing package and fact sheet
Colorado. Department of Health
Colorado. Department of Health. Hazardous Materials and Waste Division
Colorado. Water Quality Control Commission
Control of radioactive pollution of the Animas River
Correspondence
Craig, Roy

Discussion of the lung cancer risk resulting from radon exposure
DOE News fact sheets and press releases
Dolores Project (Colo.)
Durango (Colo.)
Durango Chamber of Commerce. Environmental Committee minutes
Durango Herald
Durango site information report
Durango site status report
Durango smelter stack
Durango Tailings Task Force
Durango Tailings Task Force records

Economic impact study: briefing package and fact sheet
Em-Kayan: magazine of "MK"
Engineering assessment of inactive uranium mill tailings, Durango
Engineering, environmental studies, etc. reports
Environmental impact statement for remedial actions on uranium
Environmental impact statements
Environmental, health, and safety plan

Fact sheets
Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah

Ground water standard

Haywood, F. F.
Health and safety plan
Health physics monitoring plan

Inactive uranium mill tailings sites
Inactive uranium mill tailings sites at Rifle, Colo.
Inactive uranium-mill tailings at Durango, Colo.  

Jacobs Engineering Group
Judkins, Daniel  

Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge draft plan, etc.

Low-level radiation from uranium tailings in Durango, Colo.
Lung cancer risk resulting from radon exposure

 Memoranda
Meyer, H. R.
Minutes and correspondence
MK-Ferguson Company
Morrison Knudsen publicity materials

National Park Service
Newspaper clippings
Notes

Overbaugh, Julie
Overhead transparencies

Photographs
Pollution of the Animas River
Preliminary case report of the Durango smelter stack  
Press releases
Public relations materials

Radiation and risk on the UMTRA project
Radiation health hazards
Radioactive gas
Radioactive materials
Radioactive pollution of the Animas River
Radioactive waste
Radioecology
Radiological support plan  
Radiological survey of the inactive uranium-mill tailings at Durango
Radon
Remedial action at the Shiprock, New Mexico, inactive uranium tailings
Remedial action concept paper for stabilization of the inactive tailings
Remedial action plan and site design for stabilization of the tailings
Remedial actions at the former Vanadium Corporation of America
Request for proposal from City of Durango
Rifle (Colo.)

Safety plan
San Juan and New York smelter stack and superintendent's house
Shiprock (N.M.)
Site design for stabilization of the inactive uranium mill tailings
Smelter stack
Smoke stack
Southwest Research and Information Center
Stabilization of the inactive uranium mill tailings site
Stack
Steinhoff, Harold
Subcontract documents
Superintendent's house, photographs
Surveillance and maintenance plan draft

Tailing pile remedial action project bar charts
Tailings
Tailings Task Force records
Task Force records
Technical summary of the UMTRA Project Technology Development
TLDs
Transparencies
Tsivogou, E. C.

U.S. Department of Energy
U.S. Department of the Interior. Bureau of Reclamation
UMTRA
Uranium mill tailings
Uranium mill tailings at Durango, Colo.
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978
Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Program
Uranium mill tailings sites
Uranium mill tailings sites at Rifle, Colo.
Uranium tailings

Vanadium Corporation of America uranium mill site

This collection is located at the Center of Southwest Studies on the campus of Fort Lewis College.  Researchers wanting more information about using this material at the Delaney Southwest Research Library at the Center may email the archivist at archives@fortlewis.edu or click here to use our E-mail Reference Request Form (or phone the archivist at 970/247-7126).  The Center does not have a budget for outgoing long-distance phone calls to answer reference requests, so please email if you wish to receive a response from the Center.  To request reproductions/copies, click here for instructions.

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