Can you mine uranium

It was Becquerel's discovery that sealed uranium's further fate and the appliance that humankind found for it.

Since that time, uranium has become surrounded by many myths and prejudices. We talked to Volodymyr Bondarenko , a professor, Head of the Department of Mining Engineering and Education of the National Technical University "Dnipro Polytechnic" Dnipro , and asked him to confirm or refute the most common myths about uranium. Most of these fears come from ignorance.

It all depends on the mining method used. If you use the old methods of open-pit mining, then we see harmful factors. It generates a lot of dust. But now, no one works like this in the world perhaps only Russia. Now uranium is mined by the modern method of underground leaching. This technology's purpose is to minimize any impact on the environment. All processes take place underground, as a rule, between two water shut-off levels or rock sheets. Giving the Ukrainian geology, these are clays.

They are aquicludes that don't let water through. Then comes the structure called sand, and in the sand, there's uranium in its occurrences. Below, there are aquicludes again. Therefore, everything happens between these two waterproofing layers. Thus, nothing gets to the surface and into the deep during the extraction process. Including into drinking waters or wanters in a surface with plants, and so on. There are three ways to mine uranium ore:.

However, it's not uranium yet, but oxide. Obtaining pure uranium is a complex chain of chemical reactions and transformations. And it's not enough just to isolate pure metal. Uranium itself doesn't carry the value for using it at nuclear power plants. It needs enriching. All this happens later, not at the mine. It's safe even during work on the surface. For example, in Kazakhstan I am related to Kazakhstan as my graduate student is studying there, analyzing the method of underground leaching , there are a lot of such objects, and deposits.

And while they are carrying out leaching at a depth of meters, there's a forest on the surface. And a recreation area. Indeed, today the uranium mining process's impact on the environment is minimal. After mining, the involved territory is reclaimed of course, if needed; with a forest sitting on the surface and during mining, the need disappears altogether. Reclamation takes place most effectively using the underground leaching method.

The environment suffers the least damage, and it is easy to restore it. Of course, a lot depends on the quality of work so that the wells aren't disturbed, so they don't penetrate the aquifer "along the way" underground. But the probability is minimal. Uranium, as we know, is a radioactive element. But how strong is the radioactivity? We can relax, the uranium radiation is weak.

The explanation is that natural uranium contains three isotopes: , , and , and over 99 percent of the uranium in nature is contained in the form of the uranium isotope, which is almost non-dangerous to humans.

It is considered being long-lived, with a half-life of 4. Given this long period, we can say that it emits radiation weakly. Its alpha particles don't go through human skin. By: Dana S. Uranium resources can be extracted from the ground in three ways: open pit, underground, and in-situ leach ISL. Open pit mining, also known as strip mining, is the removal of surficial soils and uneconomic rock to get at the ore below.

Ore grades are normally less than 0. This is type of mining is only possible if the uranium ore is near the surface normally less than ft. The Jackpile Mine on Laguna Pueblo was once the world's largest open pit uranium mine. The turquoise-blue waters of Havasu Creek that flow through Supai Village and create magnificent waterfalls are the product of Havasu Spring, which flows from the Redwall-Muav Aquifer.

As climate change unfolds, the Southwest is only getting hotter and dryer. Frivolous threats to fragile water resources, like those posed by an unnecessary uranium mine near the Grand Canyon, should not be tolerated.

Please urge the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to deny the groundwater permit for operation of the newly renamed Pinyon Plain Mine, and to issue a groundwater permit only for the immediate closure and cleanup of the mine. At a minimum, any permit that is issued should require:. Native peoples have had cultural ties to the Little Colorado River Gorge since time immemorial, yet their sovereignty remains under threat. The Grand Canyon Protection Act is our best chance at securing enduring protection for the Grand Canyon and its life-giving waters.

A uranium reserve would subsidize the uranium industry at the expense of the Grand Canyon, Bears Ears, and frontline communities. Sign Up. Toggle Navigation Menu. Blog Hikes Newsroom Resources. Act Donate Renew.

Back to All Blog Posts. Michael Quinn, NPS. These are placed near the pit and either used in rehabilitation or shaped and revegetated where they are. Uranium minerals are always associated with more radioactive elements such as radium and radon in the ore which arise from the radioactive decay of uranium over a few million of years.

Therefore, although uranium itself is barely radioactive, the ore which is mined, especially if it is very high-grade such as in some Canadian mines, is handled with some care, for occupational health and safety reasons. Mining methods, tailings and run-off management and land rehabilitation are subject to Government regulation and inspection.

Solid waste products from the milling operation are tailings, ranging in character from slimes to coarse sands. They comprise most of the original ore and they contain most of the radioactivity in it.

In particular they contain all the radium present in the original ore. At an underground mine they may be first cycloned to separate the coarse fraction which is returned underground and used for underground fill. The balance is pumped as a slurry to a tailings dam, which may be a worked-out pit as at Ranger and McClean Lake, or an engineered structure.

When radium undergoes natural radioactive decay one of the products is radon gas. Because radon and its decay products daughters are radioactive and because the ground rock comprising the tailings is now on the surface, measures are taken to minimise the emission of radon gas.

During the operational life of a mine the material in the tailings dam is often kept covered by water to reduce surface radioactivity and radon emission though with lower-grade ores neither pose a hazard at these levels. This water needs to be recycled or evaporated since it contains radium, which is relatively soluble. Most Australian mines and many others adopt a 'zero discharge' policy for any pollutants.

On completion of the mining operation, it is normal for the tailings dam to be covered by some two metres of clay and topsoil with enough rock to resist erosion. This is to reduce both gamma radiation levels and radon emanation rates to levels near those normally experienced in the region of the orebody, and for a vegetation cover to be established. At Ranger and Jabiluka in North Australia, tailings will finally be returned to the mine pit or underground, as was done at the now-rehabilitated Nabarlek mine.

In Canada, ore treatment is often remote from the mine that the new ore comes from, and tailings are emplaced in mined-out pits wherever possible, and engineered dams otherwise.

At established ISL operations, after mining is completed the quality of the remaining groundwater must be restored to a baseline standard determined before the start of the operation so that any prior uses may be resumed. Usually this is potable water or stock water usually less than ppm total dissolved solids.

Contaminated water drawn from the aquifer is either evaporated or treated before reinjection. In contrast to the main US operations, the water quality at the Australian sites is very poor to start with, and it is quite unusable. At Beverley the original groundwater in the orebody is fairly saline and orders of magnitude too high in radionuclides for any permitted use. At Honeymoon the original water is even more saline, and high in sulfates and radium. When oxygen input and leaching are discontinued, the water quality reverts to its original condition over time.

Upon decommissioning, ISL wells are sealed or capped, process facilities removed, any evaporation pond revegetated, and the land can readily revert to its previous uses. Mining is generally considered a temporary land use, and upon completion the area with any waste rock, overburden, and covered tailings needs to be left fit for other uses, or its original use. In many parts of the world governments hold bonds to ensure proper rehabilitation in the event of corporate insolvency.

This was drawn up by the national government in line with recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection ICRP , but it is administered by state health and mines departments. The Code, which was updated in , and again in , sets strict health standards for radiation and radon gas exposure, for both workers and members of the public. In Canada the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is responsible for regulating uranium mining as well as other aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle.

In Saskatchewan, provincial regulations also apply concurrently, and set strict health standards for both miners and local people. Uranium itself is only slightly radioactive. However, radon, a radioactive inert gas, is released to the atmosphere in very small quantities when the ore is mined and crushed.

Radon occurs naturally in most rocks — minute traces of it are present in the air which we all breathe and it is a significant contributor to the natural radiation dose that we all receive. Because it is airborne, special care must be taken to ensure that mine worker exposure, especially in poorly ventilated mines, is limited. Open cut mines are naturally well ventilated.

The Olympic Dam and Canadian as well as other underground mines are ventilated with powerful fans. Radon levels are kept at a very low and certainly safe level in uranium mines. Radon even in non-uranium mines also may need control by ventilation. Gamma radiation may also be a hazard to those working close to high-grade ores. It comes principally from uranium decay products in the ore, so exposure to this is regulated as required.

In particular, dust is suppressed, since this represents the main potential exposure to alpha radiation as well as a gamma radiation hazard. At the concentrations associated with uranium and some mineral sands mining, radioactivity is a potential health hazard.

Precautions taken during the mining and milling of uranium ores to protect the health of the workers include:.

At any mine, designated employees those likely to be exposed to radiation or radioactive materials are monitored for alpha radiation contamination and personal dosimeters are worn to measure exposure to gamma radiation. Routine monitoring of air, dust and surface contamination is undertaken.