Uravan Uranium Project (Union Carbide Corp.)

Overview

The Uravan Uranium Project sits in Uravan, Colorado, and operated as a uranium and vanadium processing facility from the 1940s until 1984. It has been on the National Priorities List (NPL), the federal roster of priority Superfund sites, since June 1986. The site covers a broad area addressed as a single operable unit, meaning all cleanup decisions apply sitewide. Physical construction of the remedy wrapped up in September 2008, and the site reached a milestone called "sitewide ready for anticipated reuse" in September 2025.

The EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) identified 37 contaminants of concern at the site. These include metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, nickel, selenium, uranium, vanadium, and zinc. Radioactive substances include radium-226, radium-228, thorium-230, and uranium-238. Inorganic compounds such as nitrate, nitrite, fluoride, sulfate, and cyanide were also found. These contaminants were detected in groundwater, soil, or both, and pose unacceptable risks to human health or the environment without cleanup.

The cleanup involved moving more than 3 million cubic yards of mill wastes into secure repositories, capping nearly 10 million cubic yards of radioactive tailings, removing contaminated soil, treating groundwater, tearing down two mills, and cleaning up the town of Uravan itself. A 2006 project removed a major contamination source from beneath Highway 141, and that portion of the site was removed from the NPL in 2007. Work took place under a Consent Decree with oversight from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

The EPA's most recent five-year review, completed in August 2025, confirmed that cleanup actions protect human health and the environment in the short term. Human exposure is currently under control, with no unacceptable exposure pathways remaining. Contaminated groundwater is stabilized in its original area, and no unacceptable discharge to surface water is expected. Ongoing work includes assessing institutional controls, approving alternative soil standards in areas where cleanup goals were not fully met, studying two areas with elevated radioactive activity, and re-evaluating groundwater standards for molybdenum and uranium based on updated state limits. The site has not yet been fully deleted from the NPL.

Community members can get involved by contacting the EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator, Brent Campbell, by email or phone. Key documents are available at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment HMWMD Records Center in Denver (by appointment), the Nucla Public Library in Nucla, Colorado, and the EPA Superfund Records Center in Denver. The responsible party plans to transfer portions of the site to the Department of Energy Legacy Management program, with other parcels going to the Bureau of Land Management and Montrose County. The site currently supports cattle grazing, hunting, fishing, camping, and rafting.