The EEOICPA was passed in 2000. It provides compensation to workers who became ill as a result of their employment manufacturing nuclear weapons in the USA, as well as their spouses, children, and grandchildren. Uranium Mill at Shiprock EEOICPA coverage is available for qualified former Workers and their families.
Are you eligible for compensation? If you or a family member worked at this or another AWE facility and became ill, you may be entitled to compensation of up to $150K plus medical benefits. Call EEOICPA Counsel Hugh Stephens at 1-855-548-4494 or fill out our free claim evaluation, We can help even if you’ve already filed, even if your claim was denied!
Here, we have compiled publicly available information and documentation about the facilities covered by the Act to clarify how their activities relate to the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act.
Uranium Mill at Shiprock
State: New Mexico
Location: Shiprock
Time Period: October 1984 – November 1986
Facility Type: Department of Energy
Facility Description: The former Uranium Mill at Shiprock processed a total of about 1.5 million short tons of uranium ore. This activity is covered under the auspices of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act and is not separately covered under EEOICPA.
However, from October 1984 through November 1986 the Department of Energy and its contractors conducted environmental remediation at this location under the auspices of the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (UMTRCA). DOE employees and DOE contractor employees who performed this remediation are covered under EEOICPA.
Contractor: M.K. Ferguson
Listing:
Uranium Mill at Shiprock is listed as a Department of Energy (DOE) site under the EEOICPA.
Site Description and History
The Shiprock site is the location of a former uranium- and vanadium-ore-processing facility within the Navajo Nation in the northwest corner of New Mexico near the town of Shiprock, approximately 28 miles west of Farmington. Kerr-McGee built the mill and operated the facility from 1954 until 1963. Vanadium Corporation of America purchased the mill and operated it until it closed in 1968. The milling operations created process-related wastes and radioactive tailings, a predominantly sandy material. The mill, ore storage area, raffinate ponds (ponds that contain spent liquids from the milling process), and tailings piles occupied approximately 230 acres leased from the Navajo Nation.
In 1983, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Navajo Nation entered into an agreement for site cleanup. By September 1986, all tailings and associated materials (including contaminated materials from offsite vicinity properties) were encapsulated in the disposal cell built on top of the existing tailings piles.
