Moab, Utah
On Thursday, December 19, 2024, the North Wind Portage Moab project celebrated its milestone of permanently removing 15 million tons of residual radioactive material from the Moab site. Members of the project team, senior members of the Department of Energy (DOE), other project stakeholders, and the local community attended the ceremony.
This celebration featured remarks from Matt Udovitsch, the DOE Moab Federal Cleanup Director; Joette Langianese, the Mayor of Moab; Jaques Hadler, the Grand County Commission Chair; Jack Zimmerman, the Director of the DOE-EM Consolidated Business Center; Jay Glascock, the Director of Site Operations for DOE Legacy Management; and Jeff Scott, President of North Wind Portage. The ceremony culminated with Mary McGann, the Head of the Moab Tailings Pile Steering Committee, moving a tile representing the 15 millionth ton from a plaque representing the Moab Tailings pile to a plaque representing the secure repository at Crescent Junction – a tradition that has become the cornerstone of these events.
“I’m proud of the team working on this project. They moved over 1,031,000 tons this year, which is the most ever moved in a single year during a 4-train-per-week schedule on the project. The team continues to innovate and find ways to move the material safely, effectively, and efficiently.” Jeff Scott, North Wind Portage President, said.
l to r: Eric Anderson, North Wind Director of Contracts; Dee Radford, North Wind Portage Moab Operations Manager; Greg Church, North Wind Portage Moab Program Manager; Jeff Scott, North Wind Portage President; Andy Williams, North Wind Director of Waste Management; Courtney Arbour, North Wind Sr. Manager of Communications and Marketing.
The UMTRA pile site is a mile from the Arches National Park entrance and three miles northwest of downtown Moab, Utah. Mill tailings are a sand-like waste material that remains from conventional uranium ore processing. Railcar containers transport the Moab tailings to an approved disposal facility near Crescent Junction, which is located 30 miles north of the Moab site. After tailings are placed in the disposal cell, they are capped with multi-layers of locally sourced soils and rock.
North Wind Portage has held this contract since 2011.
