Environmental Contamination from Uranium Production Facilities and Their Remediation
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Environmental Contamination from Uranium Production Facilities and their Remediation Proceedings of an International Workshop Lisbon, 11–13 February 2004 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION FROM URANIUM PRODUCTION FACILITIES AND THEIR REMEDIATION The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GREECE PAKISTAN ALBANIA GUATEMALA PANAMA ALGERIA HAITI PARAGUAY ANGOLA HOLY SEE PERU ARGENTINA HONDURAS PHILIPPINES ARMENIA HUNGARY POLAND AUSTRALIA ICELAND PORTUGAL AUSTRIA INDIA QATAR AZERBAIJAN INDONESIA REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF ROMANIA BELARUS IRAQ RUSSIAN FEDERATION BELGIUM IRELAND SAUDI ARABIA BENIN ISRAEL SENEGAL BOLIVIA ITALY SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JAMAICA SEYCHELLES BOTSWANA JAPAN SIERRA LEONE BRAZIL JORDAN SINGAPORE BULGARIA KAZAKHSTAN SLOVAKIA BURKINA FASO KENYA SLOVENIA CAMEROON KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA CANADA KUWAIT SPAIN CENTRAL AFRICAN KYRGYZSTAN SRI LANKA REPUBLIC LATVIA SUDAN CHILE LEBANON SWEDEN CHINA LIBERIA SWITZERLAND COLOMBIA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COSTA RICA LIECHTENSTEIN TAJIKISTAN CÔTE D’IVOIRE LITHUANIA THAILAND CROATIA LUXEMBOURG THE FORMER YUGOSLAV CUBA MADAGASCAR REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA CYPRUS MALAYSIA TUNISIA CZECH REPUBLIC MALI TURKEY DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MALTA UGANDA OF THE CONGO MARSHALL ISLANDS UKRAINE DENMARK MAURITANIA UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MAURITIUS UNITED KINGDOM OF ECUADOR MEXICO GREAT BRITAIN AND EGYPT MONACO NORTHERN IRELAND EL SALVADOR MONGOLIA UNITED REPUBLIC ERITREA MOROCCO OF TANZANIA ESTONIA MYANMAR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ETHIOPIA NAMIBIA URUGUAY FINLAND NETHERLANDS UZBEKISTAN FRANCE NEW ZEALAND VENEZUELA GABON NICARAGUA VIETNAM GEORGIA NIGER YEMEN GERMANY NIGERIA ZAMBIA GHANA NORWAY ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. PROCEEDINGS SERIES ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION FROM URANIUM PRODUCTION FACILITIES AND THEIR REMEDIATION PROCEEDINGS OF AN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON ENVIRONMENTAL CONTAMINATION FROM URANIUM PRODUCTION FACILITIES AND THEIR REMEDIATION ORGANIZED BY THE INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY AND HELD IN LISBON, 11–13 FEBRUARY 2004 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2005 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and will be considered on a case by case basis. Enquiries should be addressed by email to the Publishing Section, IAEA, at [email protected] or by post to: Sales and Promotion Unit, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P. O. B o x 1 0 0 A-1400 Vienna Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 http://www.iaea.org/books © IAEA, 2005 Printed by the IAEA in Austria October 2005 STI/PUB/1228 IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data International Workshop on Environmental Contamination from Uranium Production Facilities and their Remediation (2004 : Lisbon, Portugal) Environmental contamination from uranium production facilities and their remediation : proceedings of an international workshop on environmental contamination from uranium production facilities and their remediation / organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency and held in Lisbon, 11–13 February 2004. – Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2005. p. ; 24 cm. — (Proceedings series, ISSN 0074–1884) STI/PUB/1228 ISBN 92–0–104305–8 Includes bibliographical references. 1. Uranium mines and mining — Environmental aspects — Congresses. 2. Hazardous waste site remediation — Congresses. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. II. Series: Proceedings Series (International Atomic Energy Agency) IAEAL 05-00414 FOREWORD The legacies of past uranium mining and milling activities continue to be a cause of concern and require assessment and remedial action. This problem has been recognized in many parts of the world over the past three decades, but has received special attention since the end of the Cold War. The larger uranium producers have expended considerable effort and resources in dealing with this legacy. However, it has to be noted that the search for uranium covered almost all countries in the world. The result in some countries is a legacy of numerous small scale mines and mills. For economic and other reasons, including less stringent environmental standards and lack of awareness at the time, these operations may not have been properly closed out and made safe from both a radiological as well as a general safety point of view. It was thought that countries with this type of uranium mining and milling legacy would benefit from an exchange of views and experiences. The remediation strategies and techniques developed by countries with major problems such as the United States of America or Germany are often not on the scale of the problems in other countries and could not be implemented in those countries. Therefore, this international workshop was organized in Lisbon from 11 to 13 February 2004. This workshop marked the successful completion of an IAEA technical cooperation project designed to assist Portugal in dealing with its uranium mining legacy of over 50 small sites. The workshop provided a forum for sharing the experience gathered during this project. The IAEA would like to thank F. Carvalho and the Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear, Sacavém, Portugal, for organizing and hosting the workshop. The Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire and COGEMA, France, as well as ENUSA, Spain, are thanked for providing relevant expertise. D. Read (Enterpris, University of Reading) reviewed the manuscript. The IAEA officer responsible for the project and for this publication was W.E. Falck of the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology. EDITORIAL NOTE This publication has been prepared from the original material as submitted by the authors. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the IAEA, the governments of the nominating Member States or the nominating organizations. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION . 1 2. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS . 1 3. MINING AND MILLING FACILITIES . 3 4. SOURCES OF HUMAN HEALTH RISK AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT. 4 4.1. Risks from mines . 4 4.2. Risks from residue management facilities. 5 4.3. Human health risks. 5 4.4. Environmental impacts . 6 5. ADDRESSING THE URANIUM MINING LEGACY. 8 6. OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP . 9 7. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . 10 APPENDIX: PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP . 13 ORGANIZING AND SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE . 253 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS . 255 . 1. INTRODUCTION The special risks associated with uranium mining were implicitly evident as long ago as the early 16th century when workers in the silver mines of central Europe, that are now known to contain uranium mineralization, appeared to be more susceptible to pulmonary disorders than workers at other mines. Concerns regarding operational practices are usually greater at uranium mines than elsewhere, although the focus is on situations where workers are in immediate contact with the ore and processing streams. Over the past decades, these concerns for worker health and safety have been the driving force for gradually tighter controls and improved practices. Only in relatively recent times, however, have concerns been voiced over impacts on public health and on the wider natural environment from the full range of operational activities related to uranium mining and the rest of the nuclear fuel cycle. In the case of the natural environment, these concerns include the risk of environmental degradation, contamination, reduced ecosystem viability and biodiversity, aesthetics, public amenities, access to land, and quarantining of land for future beneficial land use. Uranium mill tailings are of particular environmental concern because: (a) They retain much of the radioactivity of the ore from which they were derived; (b) Their radioactivity is very long lived; (c) They contain a range of biotoxic heavy metals and other compounds; (d) They may contain sulphide minerals which can generate acid mine drainage; (e) Their granular to slime consistency makes them