Uranium's legacy
Red Water Pond Road residents prepare for relocation

A worker with MACTEC works at the site where a building once stood at United Nuclear Corporation's mine site north of Churchrock. Preliminary work began on the site this week, with the company getting ready to begin removal of hundreds of thousands of tons of contaminated soil. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

CHURCHROCK — General Electric and its subsidiary United Nuclear Corp. are preparing to spend $5 million to remove about 97,000 cubic yards of radium-contaminated soil from around three households on Red Water Pond Road and an unnamed arroyo next to the former Northeast Churchrock Mine.

Seven Navajo families live in the three households, but for the next five months they are facing “relocation” to apartments in Gallup as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s interim removal action.

To read more subscribe to the Gallup Independent by calling (505) 863-6811 or purchase the paper at the newsstand.