Pathfinder - Lucky MC

1.0 Site Identification

2.0 Site Status Summary

The Lucky Mc site is located in west central Wyoming in the Gas Hills region. There are currently no downstream or down-gradient residences within 32 kilometers (km) (20 miles) of the facility. The nearest residence is a ranch located approximately 6 km (4 miles) northwest of the site.

Uranium milling began at this site in 1958 and continued through 1988 with a total of 12 million tons of ore processed. The mill utilized a conventional acid leach process. The mill was demolished and placed in the outslope of the No. 2 Tailings Dam, with a clay-radon barrier placed over the material. The mill area includes approximately 56 acres. The site has three solid tailings impoundments and three tailings solution ponds. The post-reclamation tailings piles cover approximately 241 acres. Ground water pumping operations at the facility have been ongoing since 1980. The corrective action consists of ground water pumping to evaporation ponds and the injection of fresh water to remove contamination and impede the flow of contaminated ground water in the aquifer. A total of 197 million gallons of contaminated water has been collected and 193 million gallons of fresh water injected as part of the remedial effort and approximately 217 million gallons of water have been pumped from the tailings by the end of 2001. On December 20, 2002, ACLs were approved for the Lucky Mc site, and all active correction actions ceased, such as pumping and injection. The mill tailings site reclaimation was completed on December 14, 2004. The Construction Completion Report was submitted to the NRC on April 21, 2005. NRC staff approved the Construction Completion Report in October 2006. NRC staff approved an amendment request to remove two offsite wells (AL-8 and AL-9) from the approved groundwater monitoring network. The license amendment was issued 6/2008. In February 2009, NRC staff received for review, the DOE Long-Term Surveillance Plan (LTSP) for the Gas Hills North Site (Pathfinder-Lucky Mc) dated January 2009. The LTSP explains how DOE will fulfill requirements as the long term custodian of the Gas Hills North Site, including inspecting, monitoring, conducting maintenance, fulfilling annual and other reporting requirements, and maintaining records pertaining to the site.

3.0 Major Technical or Regulatory Issues

NONE

4.0 Estimated Date For Closure

TBD