Meeting participants: Move uranium tailings by rail


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MOAB, Utah (AP) -- When it comes to deciding the best way to move uranium tailings out of Moab, most residents at a public meeting Thursday said they favored taking it by train.

The U.S. Department of Energy is formulating a plan to move a 130-acre pile of uranium waste 30 miles to a repository at Crescent Junction.

An Energy Department official says moving the tailings by truck could cost up to $100 million to improve the highway and then mean 139 truck trips per day.

If it's taken away by train, it would probably be one shipment per day with 178 railcars carrying 68 containers in the first three years.

About 60 people came to Thursday's meeting and most said they preferred moving the tailings by rail.

A report on whether the government can meet a 2019 deadline for the cleanup is expected later this month.

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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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