Uranium powder poses little hazard at Canon City, Colo., plant, NRC says

 

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Tracy Harmon, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

When it comes to extracting concentrated uranium from ore, Cotter Corp. employees take steps to avoid the potential hazards of low-level radiation and radon exposure.

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, radiological hazards are low at mills. The uranium carries little penetrating radiation and only moderate non-penetrating radiation. The primary radiological hazard is due to the presence of radium in the uranium decay chains and the production of radon gas from the decay of radium and radon progeny (short-lived radon decay products), according to the NRC.

A casual glance at the Cotter employees at work gives visitors an idea of the precautions used, including paper booties over the shoes to the use of respirators in higher-risk areas.

Also, each employee wears what looks like an identification badge clipped to their shirts, but the cards actually are able to measure that person's exposure to radioactive materials.

Among numerous other precautions taken at the mill is the use of a water truck to moisten dirt roads throughout the site to eliminate wind-blown contamination. As a further check for radiation exposure, everyone who leaves the mill undergoes a quick inspection with a Geiger counter. The tests are logged in a notebook.

As the uranium ore moves through the milling circuit, one of the most critical stages is in the drying area during the fusing of "black flake," which is the vanadium ore, said Rich Ziegler, vice president of Cotter Corp.

"The fusion area is where we have all the protective controls in place and that's where you will see the employees wearing respirators," Ziegler said.