Control of radioactive hazards from uranium mill/mine tailings has become an important public concern. Miners exposed to radioactive decay products in their employment have suffered an increased mortality due to lung cancer. This lung cancer risk was known from the Joachimstaal and Schnecburg mines in Czechoslovakia and Germany since the early 1900's. In 1968, the U.S. Public Health Service completed studies of 3,414 white underground U.S. uranium miners employed 1950-1967. There were 62 deaths due to lung cancer with 10 expected (a tenfold increase). The smoking uranium miners experienced an excess of lung cancer 10 times greater than non-smoking miners. Most of the respiratory cancer deaths occurred 10 or more years after the individual first mined uranium. Radioactive decay products in the uranium mines were considered the source of the cancer hazard. These radioactive particles were inhaled attached to dust to damage the respiratory mucosa. developed in terms of Working-Levels for radiation exposure with months for a time factor. At approximately 120 Cumulative Working-Level-Months (CWLM) an increase in lung cancer was noted. Standards were set at 4 CWLM/year to be safe for the uranium miner over 25 years. Mine ventilation was introduced and expanded (particularly after the 1968 report) to control the health hazard. In studying the respiratory disease of uranium miners, a further follow-up study of 3,366 white and 780 nonwhite uranium miners from 1950 to 1974 by Dr. Victor Archer, USPHS-NIOSH, corroborated the earlier results of a five-fold increase in mortality

due to lung cancer.

Standards were

Other studies of low-level exposure to ionizing radiation have identified a leukemia risk from gamma radiation.

However, uranium

miners are exposed to very low levels of gamma-rays.

An initial study of the cancer mortality of 662 uranium mill workers identified in 1950 by the USPHS followed through 1967 found no excess mortality due to lung cancer or leukemia, but an excess due to lymphoma (cancer of the lymph glands). This was considered to be due to lymph gland storage of inhaled uranium and thorium dust. An expanded study of uranium mill workers (not including Vitro) is underway by the USPHS.

The Vitro Minerals and Chemical Company located near downtown Salt Lake City in the center of the metropolitan area processed uranium ores from 1951 to 1964. During this period, the plant processed 1.7 million

dry tons of ore producing 4,787 tons of U308 concentrate.

From 1965

to 1968 the mill processed 106,000 dry tons of vanadium-bearing material (which also contained uranium ore). The plant was dismantled by 1970.

There are at least three important health evaluation studies to be performed concerning the Vitro tailings problem: 1) a mortality study of the former employees of Vitro, 2) a cancer mortality study of the surrounding denizens, and 3) an evaluation of the radiation hazard the tailings entail in off-site construction. The latter two studies are underway.. The Bureau of Radiation and Occupational Health, Utah State Division of Health, is determining the radiation levels at the 17

known sites of tailings disposal. These include 5 residences, 7 businesses,

and 5 empty lots. Levels of radon daughters (radioactive decay products

of uranium) in the central Salt Lake City fire station were five times the acceptable levels for uranium mines.

The Utah State Division of Health has funded the University of Utah College of Medicine (Dr. J. Lynn Lyon) to study the cancer mortality of the residents living near the Vitro site. Using Utah Cancer Registry data, lung cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma deaths are being plotted on a map using Vitro as a point source of pollution. Results will be available shortly to determine if there are increased radiation-associated cancers close to the tailings compared to a matched control group.

The third study would be a mortality study of the former Vitro employees. The importance of this study would be to determine if any mortality from a disease (e.g. lymphoma) is increased. confirm or deny previous findings of uranium mill workers.

This would

All em

ployees working for any length of time between 1951-1968 would be part of the Study Group. Their vital status as of December 31, 1977, would be determined. Death certificates would be obtained from all

deceased workers, and a life-table method would determine observed/

expected rates of mortality.

from Social Security files.

Names of former workers would be obtained
Automation Industries, Inc. (current owner

of Vitro Minerals and Chemical Company) has granted permission to
obtain Vitro employees names and birth dates from Social Security.

Funding of such a mortality study would help determine if a health hazard exists among those exposed to higher levels of radiation compared to the nearby community.

William Rom, M.D., M.P.H.

Assistant Professor
Pulmonary Disease Division

Department of Internal Medicine

Division of Occupational and Environmental Health
Department of Family and Community Medicine
Director,

Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health

University of Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah

June 1978

This week, the Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power will be considering the "Uranium Mill Tailing Control Act of 1978."

This legislation, developed by the involved states, the Administration, and Representative Udall's Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, will create a federal-state cooperative program for safety and environmental management of uranium mill wastes.

The importance of cleaning up these nuclear wastes has been well documented by both the House and Senate hearings. The environmental and aesthetic damage, as well as dangers to health, are just beginning to be measured. The cleanup cost to the affected states could be over 100 million dollars. Remedial action on Colorado's mill sites alone may cost 50 million dollars.

Mining is essential to our economy and prosperity, but it
also has heavy social and economic costs. The nation spent over 4
billion dollars in Appalachia attempting to rehabilitate that
depressed area. The new surface mining regulations Congress worked so
long to pass will cost 100 million dollars a year to enforce.
Protecting the country from the external costs of mining will be an
ongoing burden for local, state, and federal agencies.

H. R. 13049 and other related bills begin another effort to
redress the costs of mining. I am concerned, however, about the
Department of Energy's slow acceptance of its responsibility in this
program and its unwillingness to pay the major share of the costs.
The lack of proper reclamation was, in fact, caused by United States
Government defense needs for uranium, when there was little
appreciation of the damage caused by exposed tailings.

Increasingly, the Federal Government is asking the states to

share the costs of essential programs.

The Administration has recently requested that 10 percent of the cost of federal water reclamation be borne by the states. Adding a large percentage of mill tailings reclamation costs to state budgets would be unfair and possibly delay implementing the cleanup. Most of the mill tailing sites are in rural areas that have difficulty competing with our larger cities for state money.

The western states most affected by the mill tailing costs are also in the midst of the taxpayers revolt as is most of the nation. Colorado presently has a 7 percent statutory limit on annual budget increases which is less than the present rate of inflation. The November Colorado ballot will offer a spending limit as a constitutional provision. Arizona will also have a constitutional amendment on its November ballot. Utah and New Mexico are presently cutting budgets and facing spending limit petition drives.

I urge the Committee to devise a funding formula that requires a minimum commitment of state funds. This could be accomplished by limiting the states share of costs to a specific percentage of the general revenues. States could also be given credit for the funds already expended in cleaning up uranium mill tailings.

These recommendations would, I believe, greatly facilitate the federal-state efforts.