Remediation and Waste Management at the Sillamae Site, Estonia Cheryl K. Rofer, E-ET Tonis Ka
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Title: Turning a Problem into a Resource: Remediation and Waste Management at the Sillamae Site, Estonia Author(s) Cheryl K. Rofer, E-ET Tonis Kaasik, OkoSil Ltd., Tallinn, Estonia Submitted to Conference Proceedings From a NATO Advanced Research Womhop, ,-e in Tallinn, Estonia, October 5 - 9, 1998 To be submitted to Kluwer Publishers, Belgium .- - _I CONTENTS Introduction and Recommendations Cheryl K. Rofer and Tirnis Kaasik ......................................................................... .V INTRODUCTORY MATERLAC: THE'SITUA'ITON AT SILLAM& Industrial Complex in Northeast Estonia: Technical, Economic and Environmental Aspects Mihkel Veiderma,.................................................................................................. .2 Uranium processing at SilWe and Decommissioning of the Tailings E. Lippmaa and E. Maremde .................................................................................. 5 Sillawe-A Common Baltic Concern Jan OlofSnihs...................................................................................................... .5 Master Plan for Remediation of the Sillami4e Tailings Pond and Technical Design Project T&is Kaasik ........................................................................................................ .21 Site Monitoring VladimirNosov ..................................................................................................... 27 Stability of the Dam at the SiUamiie Tailings Pond M. Mets and H. Torn,......................................................................................... ..31 Process Flow Sheet K Petrenko andA. Siinmaa................................................................................. .47 Rare Earth Production at the Sibmile Plant 1%9-1991 and the Possibility of Scandium Extraction from Loparite V. D. Kosynkin and K J. Nikonov ........................................................................ 57 Indoor Occupational Exposure to Radiation at the Silmet Plant in Estonia: A Preliminary Assessment Raimo Mustonen, Mika Marhnen, Eero Oksanen, and Raivo Rajamde.......... .63 EXPERIENCE WITH URANIUM TAILINGS IN OTHER COUNTRIES Remediation of the Former Uranium Mine Ranstad B. Sundblad.................................................................... 1..................................... 69 Remediation of Tailings Dams A. G. Benc~r....................................................................................................... 75 Remediation Concepts for Uranium Mining Operations .. in CEEC Jan VnJen............................................................................................................. 81 WISMUT Experience in Remediation of Uranium Mill Tailings Ponds A. T. Jakubick andM. Hagen ............................................................................... 93 Post-Remediation Monitoring and Maintenance Experience at Uranium Mill Tailings Sites, United States Charles A. Jones, Carl L. Jacobson, Mark P. Plessinger, and Russel Edge ..... 107 Current State of Remediation of Tailings Ponds and Their Surroundings in Hungary 1, Benkovics, J. Csicshk, M Csisvari, and Zs. Lendvai ....................................... 1 17 The Environmental Impact of Former Uranium Mining Activities at the Novoveska Huta Site, Slovakia Miroslav Kosik ................................................................................................... 129 A “Heritage” from Uranium Mining in Poland 2. Waciawek,J. Koszela, and W. Charewicz..................................................... 133 A Field Study of Capillary and Hydraulic Barriers in Landfill Covers Varying in Slope at Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA J. K Nyhan, T. G. Schojield, andJ. A. Saiazar................................................. 139 REGULATORY AND LEGAL ISSUES Estonian Radiation protection Requirements and the Sillamtie Site Enn Redo........................................................................................................... 153 rl Legal Responsibility and Liability for the Sillamtie Site Gorun Hedelius............................................................ .:. .................................. .165 Regulations and Requirements-Swedish Approach Jan OlofSnihs.................................................................................................... 171 Nordic Experience with Environmental Regulations Karin Broden ...................................................................................................... 177 ASSESSMENT OF OPTIONS Outline of a Multiattributc Utility Approach to Development of a Waste Management Strategy at Sillamiie Peter C. Anselmo ................................................................................................ 185 The Potential for Economic Recovery of Metals from the Sillamiie Site G.A. D~M’s......................................................................................................... 195 APPLICABLE TECHNOLOGIES Oil Shale Ash: Its Characterization and Possible Use in Remediation at the SiIlaWe Site T. Law and V. Kikas .......................................................................................... 207 Types of Oil Shale Ash and Methods for Increasing Their Reactivity R. Kuusik and T. Kaljuvee .................................................................................. 215 Utilization of Semi-Coke for Energy Production Juan Uustalu...................................................................................................... .22 1 - .i Magnetic Separation for Rare Earth Oxide Recovery at Sillamtie, Estonia L. M Worl, D. Hill, D. D. Padilla: F. C. Prenger, and E. Roth......................... 227 Purification and Utilization of Waste Waters fiom Silmet Plant Containing Ammonium Salts G. Raalo, T PetrovsRaya, andM. Glush......................................................... 237 New Approaches for the Treatment of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials Loes M M. Roelofs and Rob. B. Wiegers........................................................... 245 Ash Cemknts Stabilized by Supercritical C02Carbonation for Tailings Overlayer . James B. Rubin, Craig M. V: Tqlor, Patricia Paviet-Hartmann, and Thomas Hartmann........................................................................................................... .253 A Novel Chemical Nitrate Destruction Process J. Dziewinski and S. Marczak............................................................................ .265 . .I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The organization of the workshop was the dual responsibility of OkoSil Ltd. and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. 6koSil took care of most of the arrangements for organizing the meeting, and both institutions, together with Jan Olof Snihs of the Swedish Radiation Protection institute, developed the program and selected the participants, Editing the proceedings was primarily the responsibility of the Los Alamos National Laboratory. In Estonia, a number of institutions and individuals helped to make the workshop a success, The Estonian Ministry of the Environment provided expert advice in developing the program. The staff of the Estonian National Library, where the workshop sessions were held, were meticulous in their preparations and generous in their support. The City of Sillamtie and its mayor, the late Jaak Taam, graciously welcomed the workshop participants on their visit to the site. The Silmet Group provided financial support. The support of the Earth and Space Sciences Division and the Environmental Science and Waste Technology Division at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, made possible by C. Wes Myers and Thomas E. Baa, is gratefully acknowledged. Additionally, Inds Triay and M. James Aldrich provided significant encouragement to this effort. The session chairs, Dennis L. Hjeresen, Russel Edge, Jan Olof Snihs, and Raimo Mustonen, were helpfhl in developing the workshop itself and in completing this book. Russel Edge and Raimo Mustonen provided additional help in editing the papers for the book. Special thanks go to the 6koSil organizers, in particular Anti Siinmaa and Indrek Hellerma, who oversaw the details of the workshop preparation. At NATO, Dr. Nancy Schulte, Program Director of the Disarmament Technologies Division, was extremely helpful, patient, and supportive. The contributions of each participant to the workshop were important to the workshop’s success and are gratefully acknowledged. Cheryl K. Rofer, Los Alamos National Laboratory Tanis Kaasik, CikOSil Ltd. I[NTRODUCTION AND RECOMMENDATIONS CHERYL K. ROFER Los Alamos National Laboratory P. 0. Box 1663 Los Ahmos. NM 8 7545 USA TONIS KAASIK t)ROSil Ltd Ravi 2 Tallinn EEOOOI Estonia 1. Introduction Estonia, a country of about 1.5 million people and 45,200 km2 land area, inherited a number of environmental liabilities from the Soviet Union, One of the largest of these liabilities is the Sillnmie site in northeastern Estonia. A NATO Advanced Research Workshop;"Turning a Problem into a Resource: Remediation and Waste Management at the Sillamb Site, Estonia," was held in Tallinn, Estonia, 5-9 October 1998. The purpose of that workshop was to bring together experts to discuss relevant experience in other countries and make recommendations on the future course of remediation and waste management at Sillarniie. The Sillamtle Metallurgy Plant, which was managed by the USSR Ministry of Medium-Scale Engineering, was built in 1946 to produce uranium metal from local shales. The shales were found to be unsatisfactory for this purpose,