Background:  Kerr-McGee Oil Industries, Inc., built the facility in late 1963 to convert uraniferous lignite (the raw ore) into a more economically handled form. The plant, operated from March 1964 to February 1967, burned lignite in three natural-gas fired, rotary kilns at a site near the mines to decrease the freight haulage costs. The burning process decomposed and drove off the organic constituents and carbon. The ore’s uranium and molybdenum values were upgraded about two times in the residual ash, which was then shipped by rail for final processing at the company’s Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico, mill. The kilns were 120 feet long by 7 feet in diameter and processed 80-90 tons of lignite ore per day. The raw lignite ore averaged 0.43 percent U₃O₈. Uranium recovery in the ash product averaged 88 percent. The Bowman plant site covered about 12 acres. At the facility site, radioactively contamination materials were found to locally extend to three feet below the surface. No clearly delineated process-residue pile or a waste pond exists at the site. An area of 59 acres has been contaminated by low amounts of wind-blown ash residues, apparently released during plant operations. It is estimated that about 100,000 cubic yards of low grade contaminated material are present at the site. The Bowman site is owned by private interests.

UMTRA Surface Remediation:   Site stabilization was not performed when the facility was closed in 1967. No tailings pile or an ash pond is present at the site, as the ash product was shipped for processing elsewhere. Buildings and equipment used at the site have been removed.

The Bowman site was not included on the original congressional list of processing sites designated under UMTRCA for remediation. The Dakota Resources Council nominated the site for cleanup (1979) and the site was designated by the Secretary of Energy. Based on its relatively low health impact, the site was initially assigned a low cleanup priority. North Dakota requested (1995) revocation of the site’s designation citing low public support, limited State funding, and the very small public and environmental risk. The site designation was revoked by the Secretary of Energy. An Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact was prepared by the DOE as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The Bowman site was not remediated. Contaminated soil remaining on the original site is estimated to be 28,000 cubic yards plus an additional 100,000 cubic yards outside the site. One vicinity property was identified as potentially contaminated by residual radioactive material: it was not cleaned up, as the Bowman site’s UMTRCA designation was revoked.

Responsibility for Remediation:   The State of North Dakota, 100 percent.