Uranium Mine Tailings: Struggling for Consensus on Decommissioning Requirements

In 1973, the price of uranium oxide was less than $6 per pound. By 1976, the price was up to $40 per pound and both the U.S. government and the private sector were in the business of mining and refining uranium ore at sites across the country using land-based units as the primary mine tailings management system. As happens in the area of environmental regulation, public concerns and attention turned to the industry, and in the late 1970s Congress passed the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 (UMTRCA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 7901 etseq., to regulate the decommissioning of uranium facilities.