The contaminated leftovers from yesterday’s uranium industry are set to become a base for tomorrow’s green energy in Durango.
The U.S. Department of Energy has opened up bidding for a solar project to be built on top of the contained tailings pile that long has been a uranium-industry-legacy fixture southwest of Durango. The 42-acre pile was covered in a protective cell of soil and vegetation in 1991.
Now, it turns out that pile has the right slope, the proximity to a power line and the willingness of a local electricity supplier to participate — all the necessary ingredients to place a solar facility on top that could provide power for about 1,000 homes.
“This is the first time we are looking at doing a Legacy Management project on top of a pile,” said Deborah Barr, the manager of the beneficial re-use program at DOE Legacy Management.
DOE has been working on the project for nearly three years. Initially, the agency assessed the interest level in such a project and found there was plenty. Last year, it started the Environmental Assessment process. Now DOE is seeking bids and has had 14 entities express interest in the project.
The solar project on top of a tailings pile is not only a first for DOE Legacy Management, it’s a first for Colorado. But the agency has turned other formerly contaminated sites into newly useful lands around the country. Other sites are being used for growing hay or for livestock grazing.
Colorado has 13 Legacy Management sites, and Barr has ideas for several more of them. She said a site near Rifle is being considered for possible sheep grazing. She said the terrain of the Rocky Flats site near Denver would offer another potential site for solar collectors if there is a power transmission line close enough and a buyer for the power. A disposal site south of Grand Junction would also be appropriate for solar once it is closed to new deposits in several years.
“I would be really excited if we could do more of this,” she said.
Nancy Lofholm: 970-256-1957 or nlofholm@denverpost.com
