In the March 17 TI, Dale Edwards raised the issue of danger to the Moab public from radon which he fears would be released if the Atlas tailings pile is moved.

In 1989, the Grand County Commission appointed an “Atlas Uranium Mill Tailings Reclamation Task Force” which I chaired. One of the first issues we investigated was whether Grand County residents were in more danger from the tailings if disturbed than if they were capped in place.

We found that there has never been an instance of elevated radiation outside the work area in any case where a uranium tailings pile was moved for reclamation. Several of these tailings piles were relocated from the middle of populated areas.

You don’t want to breathe in Radon 222. It is the only gas in the radioactive series from Uranium 238 to Lead 206. Here’s the decay series: isotope and its half life: Radium 226, 1,620 years; Radon 222, 3.82 days; Polonium 218, 3.05 minutes; depending on whether it emits an alpha or beta ionizing particle, Lead 214, 26.8 minutes or Potatine 218, 2 seconds; Bismuth 214, 19.7 minutes which can turn into either Polonium 214, .00015 seconds or Thallium 210, 1.32 minutes; Lead 210, 22 years.

If you breathe radon into your lungs and it breaks down there, you get zapped again and again over a short time with ionizing radiation.

Radon 222 is a massive gas molecule. In warm air, it diffuses through the kinetic motion of air molecules. Most Radon 222 never makes it out of the soil into the atmosphere before it decays. In cold, motionless air during an inversion, it accumulates where it is created until it decays. Thus, Mr. Edwards found high radon levels both inside and outside the Atlas building during an inversion. However, the radon monitors located at the edge of the Atlas campus have not detected a dangerous rise in radon going onto neighboring properties during any inversion in the history of Atlas.

The main air radiation exposure vector for uranium tailings is dust. Fine tailings containing Thorium 230 and its daughter Radium 226 are easily blown by wind. This fine dust can be breathed in by people, as can the Radon gas produced by Radium decay. However, the tailings in the Atlas pile are very wet. They are called “slimes.” If they are kept wet, they don’t blow as dust when exposed. All tailings pile exposed faces are sprayed with a mist of water while being moved. It has always worked to prevent radiation escape to the surrounding community.

Sincerely yours,

–Lance Christie

Moab