THE URANIUM MINING REMEDIATION EXCHANGE GROUP (UMREG) The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GHANA NORWAY ALBANIA GREECE OMAN ALGERIA GUATEMALA PAKISTAN ANGOLA HAITI PALAU ARGENTINA HOLY SEE PANAMA ARMENIA HONDURAS PARAGUAY AUSTRALIA HUNGARY PERU AUSTRIA ICELAND PHILIPPINES AZERBAIJAN INDIA POLAND BAHRAIN INDONESIA PORTUGAL BANGLADESH IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF QATAR BELARUS IRAQ REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA BELGIUM IRELAND ROMANIA BELIZE ISRAEL RUSSIAN FEDERATION BENIN ITALY SAUDI ARABIA BOLIVIA JAMAICA BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA JAPAN SENEGAL BOTSWANA JORDAN SERBIA BRAZIL KAZAKHSTAN SEYCHELLES BULGARIA KENYA SIERRA LEONE BURKINA FASO KOREA, REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE BURUNDI KUWAIT SLOVAKIA CAMBODIA KYRGYZSTAN SLOVENIA CAMEROON LATVIA SOUTH AFRICA CANADA LEBANON SPAIN CENTRAL AFRICAN LESOTHO SRI LANKA REPUBLIC LIBERIA SUDAN CHAD LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA SWEDEN CHILE LIECHTENSTEIN SWITZERLAND CHINA LITHUANIA SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC COLOMBIA LUXEMBOURG TAJIKISTAN CONGO MADAGASCAR THAILAND COSTA RICA MALAWI THE FORMER YUGOSLAV CÔTE D’IVOIRE MALAYSIA REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA CROATIA MALI TUNISIA CUBA MALTA TURKEY CYPRUS MARSHALL ISLANDS UGANDA CZECH REPUBLIC MAURITANIA UKRAINE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MAURITIUS UNITED ARAB EMIRATES OF THE CONGO MEXICO UNITED KINGDOM OF DENMARK MONACO GREAT BRITAIN AND DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MONGOLIA NORTHERN IRELAND ECUADOR MONTENEGRO EGYPT MOROCCO UNITED REPUBLIC EL SALVADOR MOZAMBIQUE OF TANZANIA ERITREA MYANMAR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ESTONIA NAMIBIA URUGUAY ETHIOPIA NEPAL UZBEKISTAN FINLAND NETHERLANDS VENEZUELA FRANCE NEW ZEALAND VIETNAM GABON NICARAGUA YEMEN GEORGIA NIGER ZAMBIA GERMANY NIGERIA 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’’. THE URANIUM MINING REMEDIATION EXCHANGE GROUP (UMREG) Selected Papers 1995–2007 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2011 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 considered on a case-by-case basis. Enquiries should be addressed to the IAEA Publishing Section at: Sales and Promotion, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre PO Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 email: [email protected] http://www.iaea.org/books For further information on this publication, please contact: Waste and Environmental Safety Section Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre PO Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria email: [email protected] THE URANIUM MINING REMEDIATION EXCHANGE GROUP (UMREG) SELECTED PAPERS 1995–2007 IAEA, VIENNA, 2011 STI/PUB/1524 ISBN 978–92–0–169310–5 © IAEA, 2011 Printed by the IAEA in Austria September 2011 FOREWORD The modern uranium mining industry has its origins in the rush of activity in the late 1940s as nations sought deposits of the mineral for strategic purposes. However, after the initial demand was met, the industry went into a decline. The combination of a lack of environmental protection legislation and little care being taken to minimize environmental impacts resulted in many sites being abandoned with no thought of remediation. With the advent of nuclear power the industry had a revival during the 1970s and exploration activity surged ahead. New mines were developed, but environmental protection continued to be only an afterthought in the early days of this phase. For newer mines remediation planning became a requirement demanded ever more strongly by the authorities as the community began to express concerns about mining legacies being left for future generations to manage. In the 1990s, two major uranium mine legacy remediation programmes were started up, one in Germany and the other in the USA. It was not long before these two groups began communicating, sharing ideas and problems with a view to exchanging data and experience in order to optimize project implementation and improve outcomes in the two countries. In 1993, a first meeting was held in the USA which the experts from both the initial partner countries found very rewarding as a means of peer review and data exchange. Further meetings followed and by 1995 invitations to participate had been extended to other groups working on similar issues in Canada and South Africa. About this time the group acquired a name — the Uranium Mining Remediation Exchange Group (UMREG). The group had no formal funding and organization was undertaken by volunteers. The group has continued to try and meet annually, usually within the framework of a larger conference or symposium which was willing to allow UMREG to ‘piggy-back’ on their organization. By the early 2000s, much of the early work was coming to an end and there seemed to be little prospect of new activity until the funding for the remediation of other legacy sites became available. Consequently, the UMREG Executive Committee decided to assemble a selection of papers from UMREG meetings, update them where appropriate, and solicit additional invited contributions. The idea was to ensure that the accumulated knowledge would be preserved for future use. This publication has been put together by UMREG, in consultation with the IAEA, initially as a summary record of past remediation activities. However, given the boom in uranium mining that began in 2004, it is now seen as a resource for those countries looking to remediate legacy sites in the course of redeveloping old uranium resources or for countries seeking to establish uranium mining industries and wishing to avoid the errors made previously. In both cases this publication is intended to show what lessons have been learned, from both mistakes and successes, in the business of remediating uranium mines, and to showcase potential ways forward to reduce the risk of new legacy sites being created. The IAEA wishes to acknowledge the significant efforts of the UMREG Executive Committee: A.T. Jakubick, P.W. Waggitt and D. Metzler. The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was R. Edge of the Division of Radiation, Transport and Waste Safety. EDITORIAL NOTE The papers in these Proceedings (including the figures, tables and references) have undergone only the minimum copy editing considered necessary for the reader’s assistance. The views expressed remain, however, the responsibility of the named authors or participants. In addition, the views are not necessarily those of the governments of the nominating Member States or of the nominating organizations. Although great care has been taken to maintain the accuracy of information contained in this publication, neither the IAEA nor its Member States assume any responsibility for consequences which may arise from its use. 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. Material prepared by authors who are in contractual relation with governments is copyrighted by the IAEA, as publisher, only to the extent permitted by the appropriate national regulations. CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... 1 Analyses of uranium resources, production and demand by the joint OECD/NEA-IAEA uranium group .............................................................................................................................. 5 R.Vance, J., Slezak State and prospects of closure and remediation of tailings deposits from uranium ore processing and heap leaching in Europe ...................................................................................... 7 R. Hähne, S. Murphy, J.J. Vrijen Uranium mining legacies in Central Asia: an overview ............................................................. 28 O.voystechovich. N. Kurylchyk, P. W. Waggitt, A. T. Jakubick Uranium mining and milling environmental liabilities management in Australia ...................... 41 P. W. Waggitt Remediation of the uranium production site of Pocos de Caldas ............................................... 52 M. R. Franklin, H. M. Fernandes Decommissioning of Elliot Lake uranium mines – site performance and long-term