IAEA-TECDOC-1425 Developments in uranium resources, production, demand and the environment Proceedings of a technical committee meeting held in Vienna, 15–18 June 1999 January 2005 IAEA-TECDOC-1425 Developments in uranium resources, production, demand and the environment Proceedings of a technical committee meeting held in Vienna, 15–18 June 1999 January 2005 The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria DEVELOPMENTS IN URANIUM RESOURCES, PRODUCTION, DEMAND AND THE ENVIRONMENT IAEA, VIENNA, 2004 IAEA-TECDOC-1425 ISBN 92–0–112904–1 ISSN 1011–4289 © IAEA, 2005 Printed by the IAEA in Austria January 2005 FOREWORD Globalization has led to the growing importance of the uranium production industries of the world’s developing countries. Though trade restrictions continue to impede completely free access to the worldwide uranium market, the uranium resources and production capabilities of the developing countries are becoming increasingly important in assuring the adequacy of uranium supplies to meet projected worldwide demand. Therefore, papers presented at this meeting provide an important overview of uranium production operations in developing countries as well as offering insight into future production plans and potential. Along with their increasing contribution to worldwide uranium supply, the environmental impact of uranium production in developing countries has come under increasing scrutiny from the nuclear power industry, the end users of this supply, and by communities impacted by uranium mining and processing. Therefore, the environmental consequences of uranium production were included in the meeting agenda as noted in the meeting title, “Developments in uranium resources, production, demand and the environment.” Accordingly, the papers presented at this meeting are about evenly divided between discussions of known and potential uranium resources and uranium production technology and the environmental impact of uranium mining and processing, its related remediation technology and its costs. Though emphasis is placed on uranium programmes in developing countries, an overview of COGEMA’s worldwide activities is also presented. This presentation provides insight into the strategies of arguably the Western world’s most integrated and diversified uranium company, including the geographic diversity of its exploration and production activities as well as its participation in secondary supply sources such as commercialization of weapons grade uranium. Uranium supply from the developing countries could be increasingly important in satisfying worldwide reactor requirements over time. At the same time, it represents only one segment of total supply, which also includes production from developed countries plus secondary supply including inventory draw down, HEU, MOX, reprocessed uranium and re-enrichment of tails. A model developed by the IAEA is presented that provides for long term forecasting of uranium requirements for given sets of parameters including nuclear power projections and fuel cycle strategies. A companion presentation reviews the relationship between options at the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle and uranium market prices. These relationships impact the economics and therefore the availability of secondary supply. The IAEA officers responsible for this publication were J.R. Blaise and C. Ganguly 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 Summary ................................................................................................................................... 1 An overview of COGEMA’s recent uranium supply activities related to conventional and secondary sources ...........................................................................................................5 G. Capus Uranium production in the Commonwealth of Independent States, China and Mongolia ...... 19 D.H. Underhill Future development of Russian uranium industry.................................................................... 43 S.S. Naumov, A.V. Tarkhanov, G.I. Birka Status and perspective developments of uranium production in Ukraine................................ 51 V.M. Pavlenko Uranium resource processing: Secondary resources, ............................................................... 73 C.K. Gupta, H. Singh Uranium exploration in the Proterozoic Basins in India — Present status and future strategy, India............................................................................................................ 81 D.C. Banerjee Uranium deposits of the Inkay — Mynkuduk ore field, Kazakhstan....................................... 95 G.V. Fyodorov The Imouraren deposit, Niger................................................................................................. 113 M. Grema Uranium recovery in Romania from alternative sources and impact on environment .......... 119 T.M. Cioroianu, F.T. Bunus, E. Guta, D. Filip, Gh.Filip Perspective to discover profitable uranium ore in Ukraine.................................................... 127 A.Ch. Bakarjiev, O.F. Makivchuk, V.A. Kriuchenko, A.V. Kuzmin, V.A. Anisimov Uranium deposits of Ukraine for ISL mining: Developments in uranium resources of Ukraine for in situ leach (ISL) uranium mining — Historical analysis, operational, geological, environmental and economic aspects.......................................... 131 B.V. Sukhovarov-Jornoviy, A.Ch. Bakarzhiyev, N.N. Makarenko, M. Baback, D.S. Gursky Uranium mineral base of the Republic of Uzbekistan ........................................................... 147 I.G. Gorlov, Yu.F. Korsakov, R.I. Golshtein Malargüe complex closure — Estimated cost, Argentina...................................................... 151 A. Castillo Decommissioning and reclamation of ANHUA uranium mine ............................................. 159 Xu Jiazhong Environmental impact of uranium mining and milling in the Russian Federation ................ 165 A.V. Boitsov, A.V. Komarov, A.L. Nikolsky Natural attenuation processes in Cenomanian sediments following acid in situ leach mining of uranium, Stráž pod Ralskem, Northern Bohemia, Czech Republic ........ 171 D.W. McCarn List of Participants.................................................................................................................. 185 SUMMARY Beginning in the early 1990s, worldwide exchange of information on uranium resources and production began to improve dramatically. The IAEA has taken the lead in providing forums for the developing countries to discuss their uranium resource potential and production capabilities. The proceedings from these meetings and other forums have been instrumental in adding credibility to the potential that the uranium industries of the developing countries have to contribute to long term supply and hence the sustainability of the nuclear fuel cycle. Along with maintaining and expanding their respective uranium production industries, the developing countries are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental impact of uranium mining and processing – both from past and current operations. Therefore, the papers presented at this meeting cover the front end of the fuel cycle from uranium resource potential to production, decommissioning and reclamation of production facilities. The delay in publishing this document does not diminish its value to the uranium industry because most of the information is not time-sensitive. Many of the papers represent case histories of environmental impact and reclamation of uranium mining projects in developing countries. Others describe availability of uranium resources in developing countries and the potential for their development. Little has changed since the papers were prepared and that which has changed provides interesting historical perspective on predictions regarding the future of uranium development in developing countries under ever changing supply-demand conditions. In situ leaching of uranium Historically, uranium production in the developing countries has been dominated by underground or open pit mining and conventional milling. However, experimental in situ leaching (ISL) of uranium was begun as early as 1961 in Ukraine, and today ISL is the cornerstone of the uranium production industries of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. In addition, several other developing countries have either begun ISL operations or are assessing the amenability of their uranium resources to ISL extraction. The number of ISL papers presented