Calculation of the number of cancer deaths prevented by the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project.

The Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project has completed remedial action at 22 uranium mill tailings sites and about 5,000 properties ("vicinity properties") where tailings were used in construction, at a total cost of $1.45 billion. This paper uses existing data from Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental Assessments, and vicinity property calculations, to determine the total number of cancer deaths averted by the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project. The cost-effectiveness of remediating each site, the vicinity properties, and the entire project is calculated. The cost per cancer death averted was four orders of magnitude higher at the least cost-effective site than at the most cost-effective site.