Welcome to A People's Atlas of Nuclear Colorado
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Navigating the Atlas
You may browse the Atlas by following the curated "paths" of information and interpretation provided by the editors. These paths roughly track the movement of radioactive materials from the earth, into weapons or energy sources, and then into unmanageable waste—along with the environmental, social, technical, and ethical ramifications of these processes. In addition to the stages of the production process, you may view in sequence the positivist, technocratic version of this story, or the often hidden or repressed shadow side to the industrial processing of nuclear materials.
Using the buttons on the left, you may also browse the Atlas's artworks and scholarly essays, access geolocated material on a map, and learn more about contributors to the project.
If you would like to contribute materials to the Atlas, please reach out to the editors: Sarah Kanouse (s.kanouse at northeastern.edu) and Shiloh Krupar (srk34 at georgetown.edu).
Cover Image by Shanna Merola, "An Invisible Yet Highly Energetic Form of Light," from Nuclear Winter.
Atlas design by Byse.
Funded by grants from Georgetown University and Northeastern University. Initial release September 2021.
Using the buttons on the left, you may also browse the Atlas's artworks and scholarly essays, access geolocated material on a map, and learn more about contributors to the project.
If you would like to contribute materials to the Atlas, please reach out to the editors: Sarah Kanouse (s.kanouse at northeastern.edu) and Shiloh Krupar (srk34 at georgetown.edu).
Cover Image by Shanna Merola, "An Invisible Yet Highly Energetic Form of Light," from Nuclear Winter.
Atlas design by Byse.
Funded by grants from Georgetown University and Northeastern University. Initial release September 2021.
Jacobs Engineering Group, Water table contour map for the Dolores River North Continent and Union Carbide uranium processing sites near Slick Rock, Colorado, November 1994, U.S. Department of Energy
Site
Slick Rock Processing Sites
Reflecting the productivity of the Slick Rock Mining District, several processing plants were constructed adjacent to the Delores River to mill ore into yellowcake.
The Slick Rock East Mill was constructed by the Shattuck Chemical Company in 1931 and acquired by North Continent Mines in 1934. The federal government assumed control in 1945 and adapted the radium and vanadium mill sites to provide uranium for the Manhattan Project. The facility was taken over by the Union Carbide Corporation in 1957 until it closed in the early 1960s. Radioactive and other contaminated materials were moved to the Slick Rock and Burro Canyon disposal sites, and the Slick Rock East milling site has since been seeded with native grasses and recontoured.
Also on the banks of the Delores, the Slick Rock West facility was operated by Union Carbide from 1957-1961 to upgrade ore mined in the surrounding area before shipping it to the company's plant in Rifle, CO for further processing. Remediation began in 1995 to remove 671,000 cubic yards of contaminated matter, including benzene, manganese, molybdenum, nitrate, radium-226, radium-228, selenium, toluene, and uranium.
The Slick Rock East Mill was constructed by the Shattuck Chemical Company in 1931 and acquired by North Continent Mines in 1934. The federal government assumed control in 1945 and adapted the radium and vanadium mill sites to provide uranium for the Manhattan Project. The facility was taken over by the Union Carbide Corporation in 1957 until it closed in the early 1960s. Radioactive and other contaminated materials were moved to the Slick Rock and Burro Canyon disposal sites, and the Slick Rock East milling site has since been seeded with native grasses and recontoured.
Also on the banks of the Delores, the Slick Rock West facility was operated by Union Carbide from 1957-1961 to upgrade ore mined in the surrounding area before shipping it to the company's plant in Rifle, CO for further processing. Remediation began in 1995 to remove 671,000 cubic yards of contaminated matter, including benzene, manganese, molybdenum, nitrate, radium-226, radium-228, selenium, toluene, and uranium.
Sources
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management. "Slick Rock, Colorado, Disposal and Processing Sites" Fact Sheet. May 2020. Accessed June 10, 2021.Loading...
Continue on "Uranium Mill Sites in Colorado"