The mill's safety violations and opposition from local residents have prevented Cotter from accepting 470,000 tons of radioactive dirt from a Maywood, N.J., Superfund site.

The dirt, however, is the solution to Cotter's most serious new violations, said Cotter executive vice president Rich Ziegler.

Inspectors who visited the mill in November said Cotter's two holding ponds have dried up to the point that they are exposing radioactive residues on newly exposed shoreline.

The exposed residue could allow radon - a cancer-causing byproduct of uranium decay - to waft into the air. Tests performed by Cotter have not yet shown any detectable emissions along the holding ponds, Ziegler said.

Ziegler said he sees two solutions: refill the ponds with water or cover them with the dirt from New Jersey.

"I don't think that's a good thing to use all that water in the middle of drought, especially since we have a better solution at hand," he said, estimating that it would take "several million gallons" to raise the water level in the two ponds.

Cotter hopes to earn millions of dollars by accepting the lightly contaminated dirt from a former chemical plant site in New Jersey where thorium was extracted to make burners for lanterns.

Breathing in high concentrations of thorium dust increases the chances of lung and bone cancer.

Concerned Citizens Against Toxic Waste, a local group fighting Cotter's attempts to take the Maywood dirt, wants water, not contaminated dirt, to do the job.

"Cotter must be a priority water user, drought or no drought, in order to abide by the law and protect the community," said Tony Belaski, a board member of the group.

Cotter has not been able to accept the Maywood dirt, or any other radioactive materials, since July because of 16 violations the health department cited in April.

The health department accused Cotter of lax management and shoddy record-keeping in monitoring radiation levels for workers, as well as vehicles and equipment entering or leaving the plant site.

The mill is still waiting to hear whether the solutions it put in place will satisfy regulators.

Similarly for the latest violations, Ziegler said the company plans to the work out the problems with the health department.

When the ponds began drying up earlier this year because of the drought, Cotter put down mulch to cover the areas exposed when the ponds dropped several feet below the normal water line.

But in November, inspectors found several areas along the shores that were still exposed.

Inspectors also found two leaky processing tanks. Though the 44-year-old plant is not processing uranium, state regulations still require that tanks and processing equipment be kept in good working order.

Cotter also was cited for failing to label drums containing radioactive materials.