The New Uranium Mining Boom

Broder Merkel • Mandy Schipek Editors

The New Uranium Mining Boom

Challenge and Lessons learned

123

Editors Prof. Dr. Broder Merkel TU Bergakademie Freiberg Institute for Geology Gustav-Zeuner-Strasse 12 09596 Freiberg Germany merkel@geo.tu-freiberg.de

Dipl.-Geoökol. Mandy Schipek TU Bergakademie Freiberg Institute for Geology Gustav-Zeuner-Strasse 12 09596 Freiberg Germany schipek@geo.tu-freiberg.de

ISBN 978-3-642-22121-7 e-ISBN 978-3-642-22122-4 DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-22122-4 Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011936159 © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2011 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material isconcerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,broadcasting, reproduction on microfilm or in any other way, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September 9, 1965, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained fromSpringer. Violations are liable to prosecution under the German Copyright Law. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does notimply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: deblik, Berlin Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)

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Contents

Part 0 Plenary

Marie Curie and the Discovery of Radium.................................................... 3 Fernando P. Carvalho

Part 1 Renaissance of Uranium Mining

License Procedure for Uranium Recovery from Talvivaara Deposit, Eastern Finland................................................................................................ 17 Ari Luukkonen, Esko Ruokola

New Uranium ISR Satellites at Beverley North, South Australia ............... 23 Horst Märten, Richard Phillips, Peter Woods

Waste Water Treatment of CO2 + O2 in-situ Leaching Uranium ................ 31 Lechang Xu, Naizhong Liu, Guofu Zhang

Radiation Protection and Environmental Safety Surveillance in Uranium Mining and Ore Processing in India.......................................... 39 A.H. Khan, V.D. Puranik

Estimates of Effective Doses Among Czech Uranium Miners ..................... 51 Ladislav Tomasek, Jiri Hulka, Petr Rulik, Helena Mala, Irena Malatova, Vera Beckova

Evaluation of Transboundary Impact of Toxic Metals of Uranium Mine Mailoo-Suu (Kyrgyzstan).................................................. 57 V.B. Aparin, J.P. Voronova, S.K. Smirnova

vi Contents

Uranium in Water and Sediments of the Mulde River................................. 65 Stefan Bister, Torben Lüllau, Florian Koenn, Maruta Bunka, Jonny Birkhan, Beate Riebe, Rolf Michel

Assessment of Background Uranium Concentration in Groundwater Around a Proposed Mining Area ................................................................... 73 K. Brindha, L. Elango, R.N. Nair

Geochemistry of Radionuclides in Groundwaters at the Former Uranium and Radium Mining Region of Sabugal, Portugal........................ 81 Fernando P. Carvalho, João M. Oliveira, W. Eberhard Falck

Simulation of Radionuclide Transport and Fate in Surface Waters in the Vicinity of a Past Uranium Processing Plant ...................................... 91 Maria de Lurdes Dinis, António Fiúza

Neutralisation and Trace Element Removal from Beverley in-situ Recovery Uranium Mine Barren Lixiviant via Hydrotalcite Formation .... 101 Grant Douglas, Laura Wendling , Kayley Usher, Peter Woods

Concentration of U and Th in the Bloedkoppie Granite, Namibia.............. 111 Fred Kamona

Concentration Dynamics and Speciation of Uranium in a Boreal Forest Creek – Six Years of Weekly Observations ................................................... 119 Stefan Karlsson, Bert Allard

Uranium Pollution of Grand Water in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan ......... 127 Yoshiko Kawabata, Masaaki Yamada, Onwona-Agyman Siaw, Aparin Vyacheslav, Berdiyar Jollibekov, Masahiro Nagai, Yukio Katayama

Environmental Impact of the Kadji-Sai Uranium Tailing Site, Kyrgyzstan........................................................................................................ 135 Zheenbek Kulenbekov, Broder J. Merkel

Assessment of Distribution Coefficients (Кd) of Radionuclides of the Uranium-Thorium Chain in the Uranium Manufacturing Tailing Dumps .................................................................................................. 143 Valentyn Protsak, Valery Kasparov, Igor Maloshtan, Sviatoslav Levchuk, Vasyl Yoschenko, Irina Kalyabina, Olga Marinich

How Much Uranium Can Be Left at Former U Mining Sites? The Need for a Complex Assessment Framework ........................................ 151 P. Schmidt, E. Kreyßig, W. Löbner

Contents vii

Health Hazards and Environmental Issues at the Uranium Mine Near Tatanagar, India ..................................................................................... 161 S.K. Sharma

Cadmium and Uranium in German and Brazilian Phosphorous Fertilizers.......................................................................................................... 167 Geerd A. Smidt, Franziska C. Landes, Leandro Machado de Carvalho, Andrea Koschinsky, Ewald Schnug

Radiological and Hydrochemical Investigation of Underground Water of Issyk-Kul Region ......................................................................................... 177 Azamat Tynybekov

Interaction of Chlorella vulgaris and Schizophyllum commune with U(VI)......................................................................................................... 185 M. Vogel, A. Günther, M. Gube, J. Raff, E. Kothe, G. Bernhard

Sustainability: the Balanced Approach to Modern Uranium Mining ......... 193 Peter Waggitt

Uranium Mining Life-Cycle Energy Cost vs. Uranium Resources.............. 201 W. Eberhard Falck

Making Uranium-Mining More Sustainable – The FP7 Project EO-MINERS ....................................................................... 211 W. Eberhard Falck, Henk Coetzee

Groundwater Monitoring Data and Screening Radionuclide Transport Modeling Analyses for the Uranium Mill Tailings at the Pridneprovsky Chemical Plant Site (Dneprodzerzhinsk, Ukraine)....................................... 219 Oleksandr Skalskji, Dmitri Bugai, Oleg Voitsekhovitch, Viktor Ryazantsev, Rodolfo Avila

Assessment of Failure Modes of the Ak-Tyuz Tailing Ponds in Kyrgyzstan in Preparation of Remediation Measures ............................. 229 Isakbek Torgoev, Alex T. Jakubick

The IAEA ENVIRONET Network Supporting the Remediation of Uranium Mining and Milling Sites ............................................................ 239 Horst Monken Fernandes, Philip Michael Carson

Environmental Management Systems in Uranium Exploration at AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (ARC)..................................................... 247 Peter Wollenberg

viii Contents

Part 2 Phosphate Mining and Uranium Recovery

Developing an “Alternative” Mining Method ............................................... 255 Franz-Werner Gerressen, Heiko Kopfmüller

Assessment of Radiological Impact on the Environment During Recovery of Uranium from Phosphate Rocks and Phosphoric Acid........... 263 A.H. Khan

Uranium Pollution in an Estuary Affected by Two Different Contamination Sources ................................................................................... 271 Guillermo Manjón, María Villa, Rafael García-Tenorio, Juan Mantero, Santigo Hurtado, Mouloud Lehritani

Distribution of Uranium Related to Particle Size of Phosphogypsum from Phosphoric Acid Production (Huelva, SW Spain) ............................... 279 Marusia Rentería-Villalobos, Ignacio Vioque, Juan Mantero, Guillermo Manjón

Lithofacies Study of the Natural Phosphates: Quantification, Genetic Involvement and Distribution of Natural Radionuclides ............................. 287 Said Fakhi, Rabie Outayad, Elmehdi Fait, Mustapha Mouflih, Marusia Rentaria, Ignacio Vioque, Abdelghani Adib Idrissi, Moncef Benmansour, Abderrahim Bouih, Hassan Elhadi, Abdelmjid Nourreddine

Part 3 Cleaning up Technologies for Water and Soil

Conception for Diversion of Runoff Implementing the Trünzig Uranium Tailings Pond into the Regional Catchment Area ........................ 299 Ulf Barnekow, Marcel Roscher, Matthias Bauroth, Gunter Merkel, Manuela Voßberg

Hydrogeological Evaluation of Flooded Uranium Mine Cavities in Hungary........................................................................................................ 307 Gábor Földing, Gabriella Szegvári, Mihály Csővári

Natural Radioactive Elements in the Region of Closed Uranium Mines on Stara Planina, Eastern Serbia ................................................................... 315 Jovan Kovačević, Zoran Nikić, Petar Papić

Solubility Controls of Arsenic, Nickel, and Iron in Uranium Mine Tailings ............................................................................................................. 325 Joseph Essilfie-Dughan, M. Jim Hendry, Jeff Warner, Tom Kotzer

Contents ix

Study of Radionuclide Transport by Underground Water at the Semipalatinsk Test Site ......................................................................... 335 Ella Gorbunova, Sergey Subbotin

Rehabilitation of Uranium Mining Waste and Restoration of the Plohnbach Valley (Germany): Design Principles, Ecological Requirements and Construction in a Fauna-Flora-Habitat Area ............... 343 N. Gottschalk, P. Schneider, R. Löser, J. Schreyer, S. Anders, B. Tunger

Generation and Prevention of Acid Drainage from Mining Wastes in a Uranium Deposit....................................................................................... 351 Marina Nicolova, Irena Spasova, Plamen Georgiev, Stoyan Groudev

Portable XRF to Guide a Groundwater Source Removal Action at the Cañon City, CO, USA Uranium Mill................................................... 361 G. Greg Lord, Kenneth E. Karp, John Elmer, John Hamrick

Characterization of Thorium Binding by Sequential Extractions in Uranium Tailings of Schneckenstein, Germany ....................................... 371 Taoufik Naamoun

Safe Handling of Low pH Mill Tailings Pore Fluids Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project........................................................... 377 Donald Metzler, Joseph Ritchey

Development and Migration of a Critical Habitat and Its Affect on the Colorado River Protection Strategy at the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project Site ........................................................... 383 Joseph Ritchey, Donald Metzler

Critical Challenges of Acid Mine Drainage in South Africa’s Witwatersrand Gold Mines and Mpumalanga Coal Fields and Possible Research Areas for Collaboration Between South African and German Researchers and Expert Teams ...................................................................... 389 Thibedi Ramontja, Detlef Eberle, Henk Coetzee, Rüdiger Schwarz, Axel Juch

Legacy of Uranium Extraction and Environmental Security in the Republic of Tajikistan........................................................................... 401 M.M. Yunusov

Preparation of a Safety and Environmental Impact Assessment and Design of Remediation Works for Uranium Tailings at AMCO Site, Zambia.................................................................................... 409 Uwe Walter, Rolf Zurl, Michael Paul

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Phytoextraction of Heavy Metals by Dominating Perennial Herbs............. 421 Gerhard Gramss, Klaus-Dieter Voigt, Dirk Merten

Field Scale Phytoremediation of Soils Contaminated with Heavy Metals and Radionuclides and Further Utilization of the Plant Residues........................................................................................ 433 Daniel Mirgorodsky, Lukasz Jablonski, Delphine Ollivier, Juliane Wittig, Sabine Willscher, Dirk Merten, Georg Büchel, Peter Werner

Free and Immobilized Microbial Systems – Potential Effective Radioactive Decontaminators ......................................................................... 443 Ioana-Carmen Popescu, Georgiana Milu, Mihaela Stoica, Gheorghe Crutu, Ecaterina Militaru

Bioleaching of Shale – Impact of Carbon Source.......................................... 449 Viktor Sjöberg, Anna Grandin, Lovisa Karlsson, Stefan Karlsson

Interactions of Ionic Liquids with Uranium and Its Bioreduction .............. 455 Chengdong Zhang, Arokiasamy J. Francis

Part 4 Analytics and Sensors for Uranium and Radon

Environmental Analysis of Uranium with Recombinant Antibodies .......... 467 Diane A. Blake, Xiaoxia Zhu, Bhupal Ban

The Routine Determination of Uranium Activity in Natural Rocks and Minerals by Gamma Spectrometry......................................................... 477 Fatima Zahra Boujrhal, Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli

Airborne Radiometric Surveying for the Management of Health, Safety and the Environment in the Uranium Mining Industry: Potential Applications and Limitations.......................................................... 483 Henk Coetzee, James Larkin

Coca-Cola® for Determining Bioaccessible Uranium in Contaminated Mine Soils ......................................................................................................... 493 Bernd Lottermoser, Ewald Schnug, Silvia Haneklaus

Development of an Immunochromatographic Strip for Rapid, Instrument-Free, On-Site Detection of Uranium .......................................... 499 Xiaoxia Zhu, Bhupal Ban, Xiaoxi Yang, Sergey S. Shevkoplas, Diane A. Blake

Contents xi

Part 5 Modelling

Ecotoxicity of Uranium in Freshwaters: Influence of the Physico-Chemical Status of the Rivers ............................... 507 Karine Beaugelin-Seiller, Laureline Février, Rodolphe Gilbin, Jacqueline Garnier-Laplace

Radiological Impact Assessment of Mining Activities in the Wonderfonteinspruit Catchment Area, South Africa........................ 517 Rainer Barthel

Challenges in Assessing Uranium-Related Health Risks: Two Case Studies for the Aquatic Exposure Pathway from South Africa –Part I: Guideline and Toxicity Issues and the Pofadder Case Study .......... 529 Frank Winde

Challenges in Assessing Uranium-Related Health risks: Two Case Studies for the Aquatic Exposure Pathway from South Africa – Part II: Case Study Potchefstroom................................................................. 539 Frank Winde

Characterization of Uranium Behavior in the Ruprechtov Site (CZ) ......... 547 Barbora Drtinová, Karel Štamberg, Dušan Vopálka, Alena Zavadilová

Estimation of Distribution Coefficient of Uranium and Its Correlation with Soil Parameters Around Uranium Mining Site .................................... 557 G.G. Pandit, S. Mishra, S. Maity and V.D. Puranik

Uranium (VI) Binding to Humic Substances: Speciation, Estimation of Competition, and Application to Independent Data................................. 565 Pascal E. Reiller, Laura Marang, Delphine Jouvin, Marc F. Benedetti

Sorption of Uranium on Iron Coated Sand in the Presence of Arsenate, Selenate, and Phosphate .................................................................................. 573 Romy Schulze, Broder Merkel

Sorption Behavior of Uranium in Agricultural Soils .................................... 579 Sascha Setzer, Dorit Julich, Stefan Gäth

Kinetics of Two-Line Ferrihydrite Phase Transformation Under Alkaline Conditions: Effect of Temperature and Adsorbed Arsenate ........ 585 Soumya Das, M. Jim Hendry, Joseph Essilfie-Dughan

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The Interaction of U(VI) with Some Bioligands or the Influence of Different Functional Groups on Complex Formation .............................. 595 Laura Frost, Alfatih A.A. Osman, Gerhard Geipel, Katrin Viehweger, Henry Moll, Gert Bernhard

Challenges in Detection, Structural Characterization and Determination of Complex Formation Constants of Uranyl-Arsenate Complexes in Aqueous Solutions .................................. 607 Wondemagegnehu A. Gezahegne, Christoph Hennig, Gerhard Geipel, Britta Planer-Friedrich, Broder J. Merkel

Effect of Temperature and Humic Acid on the U(VI) Diffusion in Compacted Opalinus Clay .......................................................................... 617 C. Joseph, L.R. Van Loon, A. Jakob, K. Schmeide, S. Sachs, G. Bernhard

Thermodynamic Data Dilemma ..................................................................... 627 Broder J. Merkel

Formation of (Ba,Ra)SO4 Solid Solutions – Results from Barite (Re)Precipitation and Coprecipitation Experiments .................................... 635 Volker Metz, Yoav O. Rosenberg, Dirk Bosbach, Melanie Böttle, Jiwchar Ganor

Study of the Speciation in the System UO22+–SO4

2––H2O by Means of the UV-VIS Spectrophotometry ................................................................. 643 Jakub Višňák, Aleš Vetešník, Karel Štamberg, Jiří Bok

Characterization of the Impact of Uranium Mines on the Hydrological System in a Granitic Context: Example of the Limousin Area in France ........................................................................................................... 653 Christian Andres, Charlotte Cazala, Emmanuel Ledoux, Jean-Michel Schmitt

Assessment of Uranium Waste Dump Closure Systems: Results of Long Term Test Fields at the Former Uranium Mining Site in Schlema-Alberoda, Germany ..................................................................... 663 Ralf Löser, Petra Schneider, Jürgen Meyer, Andrea Schramm, Nicole Gottschalk

Implementation of a Modeling Concept to Predict Hydraulic and Geochemical Conditions During Flooding of a Deep Mine................... 673 Thomas Metschies, Ulf Jenk

Contents xiii

Radiological Impact Assessment of the Uranium Tailings Pond at Turamdih in India ....................................................................................... 681 R.N. Nair, Faby Sunny, Manish Chopra, V.D. Puranik

The Mean Hydraulic Residence Time and Its Use for Assessing the Longevity of Mine Water Pollution from Flooded Underground Mines......................................................................................... 689 Michael Paul, Thomas Metschies, Marcus Frenzel, Jürgen Meyer

Uranium Mineralization in Fractured Welded Tuffs of the Krasnokamensk Area: Transfer from Ancient to Modern Oxidizing Conditions ....................................................................................... 701 Vladislav Petrov, Valery Poluektov, Jörg Hammer, Sergey Schukin

Synthesis and Research of Uranium Minerals That Form in the Disposals of Waste Radioactive Products and Under Natural Conditions ....................................................................... 711 Anna Shiryaeva, Maria Gorbunova

Modeling the Groundwater Flow of a 90Sr Plume Through a Permeable Reactive Barrier Installed at the Chalk River Laboratories, Chalk River, Ontario, Canada................................................ 719 Jutta Hoppe, Jeff Bain, David Lee, Dale Hartwig, Sung-Wook Jeen, David Blowes

Part 6 Miscellaneous

Cleaning of NORM Contaminated Pipes from Dismantling of Oil/Gas Production Facilities at a North African Site .............................. 733 Rainer Barthel

Direct and Indirect Effects of Uranium on Microstructure of Sedimentary Phosphate: Fission Tracks and Radon Diffusion ............... 743 Fatima Zahra Boujrhal, Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli

Uranium in German Mineral Water – Occurrence and Origins ................. 749 Friedhart Knolle, Ewald Schnug, Manfred Birke, Rula Hassoun, Frank Jacobs

Heavy Metal Loads to Agricultural Soils in Germany from the Application of Commercial Phosphorus Fertilizers and Their Contribution to Background Concentration in Soils .................. 755 Sylvia Kratz, Frauke Godlinski, Ewald Schnug

xiv Contents

Effect of Mg-Ca-Sr on the Sorption Behavior of Uranium(VI) on Silica.... 763 Sreejesh Nair, Broder J. Merkel

Radiological Hazard of Mine Water from Polymetallic and Uranium Deposits in the Karkonosze Mountains, South-West Poland ....................... 771 Nguyen Dinh Chau, Nowak Jakub, Bialic Marcin, Rajchel Lucyna, Czop Mariusz, Wróblewski Jerzy

Uranium – a Problem in the Elbe Catchment Area?.................................... 779 Petra Schneider, Heinrich Reincke, Sylvia Rohde, Uwe Engelmann

Energetic and Economic Significance of Uranium in Mineral Phosphorous Fertilizers................................................................................... 789 Ewald Schnug, Nils Haneklaus

Contribution of Mineral and Tap Water to the Dietary Intake of As, B, Cu, Li, Mo, Ni, Pb, U and Zn by Humans ..................................................... 795 Rula Hassoun, Ewald Schnug

Uranium in Secondary Phosphate Fertilizers and Base Substrates from Water Treatment Plants ........................................................................ 805 Dorit Julich, Christine Waida, Stefan Gäth

Uranium in German Tap and Groundwater – Occurrence and Origins .... 807 Geerd A. Smidt, Rula Hassoun, Lothar Erdinger, Mathias Schäf, Friedhart Knolle, Jens Utermann, Wilhelmus H.M. Duijnisveld, Manfred Birke, Ewald Schnug

Speciation of Uranium – from the Environment to Living Cells ................. 821 Gerhard Geipel, Katrin Viehweger, Gert Bernhard

The Implications of New Legislation on NORM-Generating Industries .... 827 David Read

Low-Lying States for the 103, 105Mo Isotopes .................................................. 835 O. Jisar, J. Inchaouh, M.K. Jammari, A. Morsad, H. Chakir

Index ................................................................................................................. 845

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Preface

Many elements of the periodic system such as arsenic, mercury, lead, etc. have been discussed and evaluated in the scientific community and in the public aware-ness in contradictory manner during the past 100 years. But uranium and its daughter nuclides and some fission products are probably the most controversially discussed elements in recent days. In 2011, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Chemistry Nobel Prize awarded to Marie Curie for the disco-very of radium and polonium that she separated and identified from uranium ore. A few years after the Nobel Price was awarded, Europe was in a rush for radium-rich waters in spas like Joachimsthal and Schlema based on the believe that radium may cure cancer and other diseases. It took a while to find that radon and not radium caused the partly extremely high radioactivity of these waters and that radioactivity is a two-sided sword in terms of health treatment. However, even nowadays radium and radon spas exist in many countries. But nowadays waters with about 1 kBq/l are common while in the very beginning waters with 30 kBq/l up to 160 kBq/l have been reported.

With Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the end of WW II, a new era was initiated characterized by the cold war between east and west and a uranium mining boom to supply both nuclear weapon production and slightly later feeding nuclear power plants. Not before 1963 the first version of the Limited Test Ban Treaty, pledging to refrain from testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, underwater, or in outer space, was signed. However, this nuclear weapon tests emitted more than a 100 times the amount of hazardous nuclides into the atmosphere in com-parison to the 1986 Tschernobyl accident. Two other major mistakes of human society of these times are related to the way of mining, milling and isotope sepa-rating causing severe environmental damages in many countries worldwide on the one side and the missing concept for nuclear waste handling on the other side. The latter has not been solved until recent days.

With the end of the cold war in the late 1980s a new era started. It was charac-terized by less or no future demand of uranium for weapons, certain conferences on disarmament, and dilution of highly enriched uranium-235 with depleted ura-