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Measurement and Calculation of Radon Releases from Uranium Mill Tailings

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Measurement and Calculation of Radon Releases from Uranium Mill Tailings I I I I I I I I I io-1 ^*"^^-dL ^-. : tfl ^^ ^-----^_ • . w 2 E 10- _o^ Q • " ^N^^v +-*m "•'•^^N• ^«Nr \ S 10-3 0 • •• VN V it; 0 . • •• *>*v* * O • ^* \ O 10 vV\ \ • 1 ^ • Measured diffusion coefficients # X\ >« CO 3 p = 0.41 • ,\v i\N TJ P - 0.55 (top), 0.26 (bottom) N C 0 10-5 ~ Fitted function: r -, • *• 2 5 QC D = 0.07 exp -4 (m - mn + m ) • • • 10-6 ! I I 1 I I I I I c ) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 Moisture saturation, m TECHNICAL REPORTS SERIES No 333 Measurement and Calculation of Radon Releases from Uranium Mill Tailings if sk\ \ %}$?J INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, VIENNA, 1992 MEASUREMENT AND CALCULATION OF RADON RELEASES FROM URANIUM MILL TAILINGS The following States are Members of the Internationa! Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN HAITI PANAMA ALBANIA HOLY SEE PARAGUAY ALGERIA HUNGARY PERU ARGENTINA ICELAND PHILIPPINES AUSTRALIA INDIA POLAND AUSTRIA INDONESIA PORTUGAL BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF QATAR BELARUS IRAQ ROMANIA BELGIUM IRELAND RUSSIAN FEDERATION BOLIVIA ISRAEL SAUDI ARABIA BRAZIL ITALY SENEGAL BULGARIA JAMAICA SIERRA LEONE CAMEROON JAPAN SINGAPORE CANADA JORDAN SOUTH AFRICA CHILE KENYA SPAIN CHINA KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SRI LANKA COLOMBIA KUWAIT SUDAN COSTA RICA LEBANON SWEDEN COTE D'lVOIRE LIBERIA SWITZERLAND CUBA LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC CYPRUS LIECHTENSTEIN THAILAND CZECHOSLOVAKIA LUXEMBOURG TUNISIA DEMOCRATIC KAMPUCHEA MADAGASCAR TURKEY DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S MALAYSIA UGANDA REPUBLIC OF KOREA MALI UKRAINE DENMARK MAURITIUS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MEXICO UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT ECUADOR MONACO BRITAIN AND NORTHERN EGYPT MONGOLIA IRELAND EL SALVADOR MOROCCO UNITED REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA MYANMAR TANZANIA ETHIOPIA NAMIBIA UNITED STATES OF AMERICA FINLAND NETHERLANDS URUGUAY FRANCE NEW ZEALAND VENEZUELA GABON NICARAGUA VIET NAM GERMANY NIGER YUGOSLAVIA GHANA NIGERIA ZAIRE GREECE NORWAY ZAMBIA GUATEMALA PAKISTAN 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 Head- quarters 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". © IAEA, 1992 Permission to reproduce or translate the information contained in this publication may be obtained by writing to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Wagramerstrasse 5, P.O. Box 100, A-1400 Vienna, Austria. Printed by the IAEA in Austria May 1992 TECHNICAL REPORTS SERIES No. 333 MEASUREMENT AND CALCULATION OF RADON RELEASES FROM URANIUM MILL TAILINGS INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 1992 VIC Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Measurement and calculation of radon releases from uranium mill tailings. — Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 1992. p. ; 24 cm. — (Technical reports series, ISSN 0074-1914 ; 333) STI/DOC/10/333 ISBN 92-0-101092-3 Includes bibliographical references. 1. Uranium mill tailings. 2. Atmospheric radon. 3. Radiation measurement. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. n. Series: Technical reports series (International Atomic Energy Agency) ; 333. VICL 92-00011 FOREWORD The mining and milling of uranium ores produces large quantities of radio- active wastes. Although relatively small in magnitude compared to tailings from metal mining and extraction processes, the present worldwide production of such tailings exceeds 20 million tonnes annually. There is thus a need to ensure that the environmental and health risks from these materials are reduced to an acceptable level. This report has been written as a complement to another publication entitled Current Practices for the Management and Confinement of Uranium Mill Tailings, IAEA Technical Reports Series No. 335, which provides a general overview of all the important factors in the siting, design and construction of tailings impoundments, and in the overall management of tailings with due consideration given to questions of the release of pollutants from tailings piles. The present report provides a comprehensive overview of the release, control and monitoring of radon, including computational methods. The report was first drafted in 1989 and was then reviewed at an Advisory Group meeting in 1990 and subsequently consolidated and finalized by the Scientific Secretary, P.L. De of the IAEA Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Management. The IAEA wishes to express its gratitude to those experts who contributed to the development and completion of this report. CONTENTS NOTATION 1 1. INTRODUCTION 3 2. PURPOSE AND SCOPE 4 2.1. Purpose 4 2.2. Scope 4 3. FACTORS CONTROLLING RADON RELEASES 4 3.1. General 4 3.2. Emanation coefficient 6 3.2.1. Moisture content 7 3.2.2. Effects of mineralogy 8 3.2.3. Particle size 8 3.3. Diffusion coefficient 8 3.4. Surface cover effects 11 3.5. Meteorological effects 11 3.6. Surface vegetation effects 12 4. METHODS FOR CALCULATING RADON RELEASES FROM URANIUM TAILINGS PILES 13 4.1. General 13 4.2. Simplified methods for calculating radon flux 14 4.2.1. Radon flux from uncovered tailings 14 4.2.2. Radon flux from single layer cover tailings 15 4.2.3. Radon flux from multiple layer cover tailings 15 4.3. Computer models 17 4.4. Estimations for input parameters and variables 17 4.4.1. Radium concentration 17 4.4.2. Emanation coefficient 17 4.4.3. Diffusion coefficient 18 4.4.4. Long term moisture 19 5. MEASUREMENT OF RADON CONCENTRATION AND FLUX .... 21 5.1. General 21 5.2. Measurement of radon concentration 21 5.2.1. Mode of measurement 21 5.2.2. Measurement techniques 22 5.3. Measurement of radon flux 25 5.3.1. Accumulation 25 5.3.2. Flow-through 27 5.3.3. Adsorption 28 5.4. Calibration of radon gas instrumentation 29 5.5. Typical values of radon flux 31 5.6. Typical values of radon concentration 31 6. CONDUCTING A RADON MONITORING PROGRAMME 34 6.1. General 34 6.2. Factors to be considered 36 6.3. Monitoring tailings piles 37 6.3.1. Gamma ray surveys 37 6.3.2. Radon flux sampling 37 6.3.3. Time schedule of flux measurements 38 6.4. Monitoring outside the tailings pile 38 7. SUMMARY 39 ANNEX A: MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT OF RADON DIFFUSION EQUATIONS 41 ANNEX B: REFINED METHODS OF RADON FLUX CALCULATION 45 REFERENCES 51 GLOSSARY 55 CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW 59 NOTATION A Area of container in contact with the surface (m2) C Radon concentration (Bq-m"3) 3 Ct Radon concentration in container (Bq-m" ) 3 Co Initial radon concentration (Bq-m" ) 3 Ca Specified radon concentration (Bq-m~ ) D Diffusion coefficient (m2-s"1) 2 De Effective diffusion coefficient (m -s"') 2 1 DM Molecular diffusion coefficient (m -s" ) 5 DA Molecular diffusion coefficient in air (1.03 X 10" for radon at 20°C) (m2^-1) 9 Dw Molecular diffusion coefficient in water (1.4 X 10~ for radon at 20°C) (m2^-1) dm Mass median particle size (/jm) E Emanation coefficient (dimensionless) F Radon flux (Bq-m"2-s"') 2 L FM Rate of molecular transfer (Bq-m" -s" ) G Average uranium ore grade (per cent U) Heff Effective relaxation length (= VD/X) k Radon distribution coefficient between air and water (about 0.26 at 20°C) m Moisture saturation (porosity filled with water/total porosity) n Porosity P Radon production rate (Bq-kg^'-s"1) Ap Change in atmospheric pressure Q Volumetric flow rate (m3-s~') R Radium concentration (Bq-kg"1) T Radon produced per unit volume per unit time (Bq-m"3-s"') t Time V Volume of accumulator (m3) x Material thickness (m) e Self-confinement factor (fraction of radon atoms released from the ore particles that eventually reach the atmosphere) X Decay constant (2.06 X 10"6 for 222Rn) (s"1) p Material or bulk density (kg-m"3) T Proportionality constant related to the ratio of the thickness of a material to the average path length through it (tortuosity factor) 1 Subscripts i Refers to the ith layer j Refers to the jth layer cl Refers to the first, topmost layer of cover material c2 Refers to the second layer of cover material, etc. t Refers to tailings properties. 1. INTRODUCTION The mining and milling of uranium ores produces large quantities of wastes which must be managed safely. At present, 18 countries are reported to have ura- nium mining and milling capability and eight have a production capacity of at least 1000 tonnes of uranium per annum. These operations currently produce over 20 mil- lion additional tonnes of tailings per annum. In 1981 the IAEA published a technical report reviewing the current practices and options for confinement of uranium mill tailings [1]. During the 1980s, greater efforts were made to understand the processes which are important in uranium mill tailings management in order to model these processes and design well engineered impoundment facilities [2-6]. In addition, effective ways of closing off these impoundment facilities for long term management and for carrying out remedial actions on older tailings piles have been developed [7]. Recently the IAEA prepared a revised version of Ref. [1] which incorporates these new technological developments as well as the operational and managerial experience arising from the application of these methods [8]. The report provides a general overview of important factors in the management of tailings, release mecha- nisms for pollutants, factors controlling these releases, pathways to humans, and the technological factors important in the siting, design and construction of tailings impoundments. Reference [8] also reviews the factors affecting the release of radon from tail- ings in general terms.
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