Environmental assessment of ground water compliance activities at the Uranium Mill Tailings Site, Spook, Wyoming. Revision 0

This document is an environmental assessment of the Spook, Wyoming, Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project site. It analyzes the impacts of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) proposed action for ground water compliance. The proposed action is to comply with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for the UMTRA Project sites (40 CFR Part 192) by meeting supplemental standards based on the limited use ground water at the Spook site. This proposed action would not require site activities, including ground water monitoring, characterization, or institutional controls. Ground water in the uppermost aquifer was contaminated by uranium processing activities at the Spook site, which is in Converse County, approximately 48 miles (mi) (77 kilometers [km]) northeast of Casper, Wyoming. Constituents from the site infiltrated and migrated into the uppermost aquifer, forming a plume that extends approximately 2500 feet (ft) (800 meters [m]) downgradient from the site. The principal site-related hazardous constituents in this plume are uranium, selenium, and nitrate. Background ground water in the uppermost aquifer at the site is considered limited use. It is neither a current nor a potential source of drinking water because of widespread, ambient contamination that cannot be cleaned up using treatment methods reasonably employed in public water supply systems (40 CFR {section} 192.11 (e)). Background ground water quality also is poor due to first, naturally occurring conditions (natural uranium mineralization associated with an alteration front), and second, the effects of widespread human activity not related to uranium milling operations (uranium exploration and mining activities). There are no known exposure pathways to humans, animals, or plants from the contaminated ground water in the uppermost aquifer because it does not discharge to lower aquifers, to the surface, or to surface water