A deal has been reached between a mining company and the Navajo Nation to resume transporting uranium across tribal lands in northern Arizona. This comes after the company began transporting mined uranium over the tribe’s objections last year.
Colorado-based Energy Fuels will enhance some of its safety standards for shipping uranium from its mine near Grand Canyon National Park through the Navajo Nation to its processing plant in southern Utah. It will also aid the tribe in cleanup of 10,000 tons of leftover material from mines abandoned during the Cold War.
Stephen Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo EPA, says there’s more than 500 inventoried waste sites on the Nation.
"Our largest mine has over 1 million tons of abandoned uranium mine waste," Etsitty said.
In addition, the company will pay the tribe 50 cents per pound of processed uranium, equating to about $50,000 per month.
Transportation resumes in February.
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