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MOAB, Utah (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson says he's encouraged by the progress a contractor has made cleaning up uranium tailings from a bank of the Colorado River near Moab.
Matheson says 1.5 million of a pile of 16 million tons of radioactive waste has been moved. The mining waste is being shipped by rail to a disposal site 30 miles to the north at Crescent Junction.
Matheson says a $108 million boost in funding from the federal stimulus package has helped speed up the nearly $1 billion project. The project cleanup deadline is October 2019.
The waste was a legacy of Cold War, when rich uranium deposits were mined during the 1950s for nuclear weapons. The Moab mill closed in 1984.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
