The Cotter Corp. processes uranium at its Canon City mill and had submitted the lowest bid to accept up to 470,000 tons of radioactive soil from a Superfund site in Maywood, N.J.

But the Colorado Department of Health and Environment rejected the proposal in October, and Cotter has yet to resubmit its application.

Instead waste has been going to a dump operated by Envirocare Inc. in Clive, Utah, along with proceeds from a $70 million transportation-and-disposal contract with the Army Corps of Engineers.

‘‘The Corps isn’t waiting on Maywood,’’ said Envirocare’s David Wagoner. ‘‘They’ve been shipping waste to us all summer and into the fall. They’re doing that under a Corps contract that Envirocare has out of Kansas City.’’

If Cotter cannot persuade Colorado officials to allow disposal in Canon City, the Maywood waste eventually will go to Utah without a rebidding of the contract.

Envirocare’s waste dump isn’t close to any population centers.

The Cotter operation, though, borders Ca–on City, where activists organized against Cotter’s plan beginning in February.

Cotter managers had hoped to start accepting the waste without public meetings because it had a license that allowed disposal of processed ore.

But a citizens group mobilized when Cotter’s plan became public. After a series of public meetings, the Colorado Legislature created a public hearing process for nuclear waste shipments, effectively making it more difficult for Cotter to accept Maywood waste.

In January, the opposition continued with activists pressuring the state to conduct more testing for contamination near the Cotter mill.

Cleanup of the Maywood site, about 12 miles west of New York City, is scheduled to continue until 2008.

In January, the opposition continued with activists pressuring the state to conduct more testing for contamination near the Cotter mill.

Cleanup of the Maywood site, about 12 miles west of New York City, is scheduled to continue until 2008.