Heavy-duty excavator loading a container truck with radioactive uranium tailings at the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) project in Moab, Utah, USA. The project, which began in 2009, aims to move an estimated 16 million tonnes of contaminated material from along the Colorado River to a permanent disposal cell further north. Pollutants from the waste tailings were found to be leaching into the river, inferred from the elevated levels of uranium and ammonia in the water. The waste is a result of uranium mining operations before the closure of the mill in 1984. By October 2021, the project had reached a milestone of 12 million tonnes of waste removed.