Fifty anti-nuclear activists including Ute Mountain Ute tribal members showed up Saturday for a 5-mile protest march to the entrance of the White Mesa uranium mill in southeast Utah.
The 31-year-old mill, owned by Energy Fuels, processes radioactive wastes from cleanup sites across the country and mills conventional uranium ore. The extracted uranium from the milling, called yellow cake, is sold to make fuel rods for nuclear power plants.
The chemical wastes from milling are permanently stored in a series of containment cells regulated by the company and Utah environmental officials.
The mill’s operations and older waste containment ponds have come under scrutiny by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Grand Canyon Trust. Energy Fuels asserts the mill’s operations are safe and operate within the standards of Utah and federal regulatory agencies...