EPA to Address Radioactive Waste at Navajo Nation Uranium Mines
Efforts to clean up hazardous waste from abandoned uranium mines in the Navajo Nation are underway, thanks to a new plan finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This initiative will target the Quivira Mines site, located near Gallup, New Mexico, where a significant amount of radioactive material remains.
The EPA’s plan involves the relocation of a million cubic yards of uranium waste rock to a repository situated 30 miles away from the original site, east of Thoreau, N.M. This move is seen as a necessary compromise to expedite the removal of radioactive waste from the Navajo Nation.
Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren emphasized the importance of this action, stating, “This solution is a compromise that will get radioactive waste in this area off of the Navajo Nation as soon as possible. It’s not everything the three affected communities would wish for but it’s action in the right direction now rather than in the future. Most importantly, this will protect our people from harmful exposure.”
The uranium tailings, a byproduct of mining activity by the Kerr-McGee Corporation between the late 1960s and 1986, have long affected the Navajo communities in the Coyote Canyon and Standing Rock chapters. The cleanup is anticipated to bring relief to these areas.
According to EPA Pacific Southwest Regional Administrator Martha Guzman, “This decision will remove over 1 million cubic yards of waste that has haunted the Red Water Pond Road and Pipeline Road communities for too long. These cleanup efforts will pave the way for these two Diné communities to fully—and safely—utilize this land.”
The process of transporting the waste rock is expected to commence in early 2025, with completion projected within six to eight years. The Quivira Mine sites, responsible for 2–4% of New Mexico’s historic uranium mining, produced approximately 1.3 million tons of uranium ore from two main mine shafts.
These sites are part of more than 500 abandoned uranium mines from the Cold War era scattered across and near the Navajo Nation, posing ongoing environmental and health challenges.
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