The Department of Energy's cleanup of the former uranium mill site near Moab, Utah, is expected to cost about $1.16 billion, according to a Government Accountability Office review released July 15.
The project had cost approximately $970 million through fiscal 2025. The federal government pays the full cleanup cost, GAO said.
Energy's Office of Environmental Management had removed more than 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings and other contaminated material as of 2026. The waste is transported to a disposal site away from the Colorado River.
Tailings are the material left after uranium is removed from rock. Groundwater around the former mill was contaminated and flows toward the nearby Colorado River, creating an environmental risk that the cleanup also addresses.
Energy plans to finish cleanup and close the disposal site by 2029. Its Office of Legacy Management would then assume long-term federal responsibilities for both locations.
The department expects to keep ownership of the disposal site. It has not made a final decision about the former mill property, although Environmental Management expects most of that land to be transferred to Grand County after cleanup.
Community stakeholders have proposed recreational uses for the mill property. GAO said the transfer plan is still being developed, so those uses and the ultimate ownership arrangement are not final.
GAO reviewed laws, regulations and agency records and interviewed five stakeholder groups. The review assessed cleanup progress and whether Energy followed leading practices for involving stakeholders; the interview sample was not designed to represent every affected group.
The 2029 date and $1.16 billion total remain plans and estimates. The documented record is that more than 16 million tons had been removed and about $970 million had been spent through fiscal 2025.