40 CFR Part 192 - HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION STANDARDS FOR URANIUM AND THORIUM MILL TAILINGS

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to add new health and environmental protection standards to regulations promulgated under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (“UMTRCA” or “the Act”). The proposed standards will regulate byproduct materials produced by uranium in-situ recovery (ISR), including both surface and subsurface standards, with a primary focus on groundwater protection, restoration and stability. ISR has a greater potential to directly affect groundwater than does conventional milling. Therefore, by explicitly addressing the most significant hazards represented by ISR activities, these proposed standards are intended to address the shift toward ISR as the dominant form of uranium recovery that has occurred since the standards for uranium and thorium mill tailings were initially promulgated in 1983. The general standards proposed today, when final, will be implemented by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). This action also proposes to amend specific provisions in the current Health and Environmental Protection Standards for Uranium and Thorium Mill Tailings rule to address a ruling of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, to update a cross-reference to another environmental standard and to correct certain technical and typographical errors that have been identified since the 1983 promulgation.