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(Y') 0) CD c: ,~ 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY C This report describes the procedure and results of a regional search for sites that appear to be suitable for the relocation and/or reprocessing of the Grand Junction and Rifle uranium mill tail ings piles. This search identified nine potential sites within the study area that are herein offered to the Candidate Site Review Committee for further consideration. All nine sites can be used for joint disposal of the uranium tail ings in both Grand Junction and Rifle. Oisposal of any individual pile at any of the nine sites may also be considered by the Committee. It is the responsibil ity of the Candidate Site Review Committee to determine which of these sites should be recommended to the U.S. Department of Energy for detailed evaluation of their suitability for uranium tail ings disposal. This should incl ude consideration of sites for joint disposal as well as disposal in separate sites. General locations of the nine potential sites are shown on Plate 2 along with regional land ownership. All sites are entirely on Federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The sites fall within five general geographic locations. Two Road, McDonald Creek, and 6 & 50 Reservoir sites lie west of Mack near the Utah-Colorado border. East Salt Creek and Camp Gulch sites are north of Mack near the Mesa-Garfield County Line. Halls Basin and Cheney Reservoir sites are found southeast of Grand Junction west of and below Grand Mesa. Lucas Mesa site 1 ies east of DeBeque across the Colorado River. Flatiron Mesa site is south of Rifle on the northeast flank of Battlement Mesa. Detailed site maps are included with the individual site descriptions in Section 4. Site boundaries as designated herein are not permanently fixed. Some sites are very large, and only part of the outl ined area may be needed for the actual repository. Other factors, such as land use, economic aspects, geotechnical problems, and environmental considerations, may make it necessary to sl ightly revise site boundaries during the later detailed investigations. A comprehensi ve site sel ection process was used to identify the recommended potential sites. Geotechnical characteristics were a primary element of this analysis. All potential sites appear,to be geotechnically acceptable for tailings disposal, based on information available for the preparation of this report. Additional geotechnical data will need to be collected and evaluated during later phases to assure long-term containment of the tailings. A number of other factors, such as transportation and land use, were al so considered in the analysis. Sites with obvious severe transportation hazards were automatically el iminated. Likewise, sites judged to be in prime growth areas, near heavily populated areas, or in prime irri9ated agricultural areas were al so dropped. Sites in National Parks, National Monuments, Wildlife Refuges, wilderness areas, and wild and scenic river areas were al so el iminated. , The geotechnical suitabil ity of each potential site was comparatively eval uated using a rating matrix. Individual site scores and rel ative geotechnical rankings are as foll ows: - 1 -