The U.S. Department of Energy says it has temporarily withdrawn 2,200 acres for the planned disposal of 12 million tons of uranium mill tailings. The radioactive dirt is to be moved from Moab on the Colorado River to Crescent Junction, Grand County.

Why should the withdrawal be temporary? This difficult, expensive project is supposed to find a permanent home for the tailings, which are too close for comfort to the Colorado River.

"What I want to do is withdraw the minimum amount of land I need" for the disposal, explained Don Metzler, federal project manager. Once designs are complete, the actual area that the disposal cells will cover could end up between 250 and 500 acres, he said.

Metzler, in the U.S. Department of Energy office in Grand Junction, Colo., said in another year or two he will know better what amount of land is needed. Within five years the answer should be clear.

"Then I can permanently withdraw only what I need," he said.

In the meantime, to give more flexibility in planning, the DOE is temporarily withdrawing much more federal land than it will ultimately need. That allows for design plans that could be caused by environmental or other needs.

The first withdrawal is a large amount of land but is for only five years. The BLM processed the withdrawal and said DOE can renew it as many times as needed, according to a DOE release.

Eventually, the DOE intends to give back much of the land for public uses. Metzler said he wants it set up "so DOE doesn't do a big land grab." In the end, the disposal site will be smaller, and it will be permanently dedicated to the tailings.

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com