Radiological survey of the inactive uranium-mill tailings at Green River, Utah

The uranium-mill tailings at Green River, Utah, are relatively low in 226Ra content and concentration (20 Ci and 140 pCi/g, respectively) because the mill was used to upgrade the uranium ore by separating the sand and slime fractions; most of the radium was transported along with the slimes to another mill site. Spread of tailings was observed in all directions, but near-background gamma exposure rates were reached at distances of 40 to 90 m from the edge of the pile. Water erosion of the tailings is evident and, since a significant fraction of the tailings pile lies in Brown's Wash, the potential exists for repetition of the loss of a large quantity of tailings such as occurred during a flood in 1959. In general, the level of surface contamination was low at this site, but some areas in the mill site, which were being used for nonuranium work, have gamma-ray exposure rates up to 143 μR/hr