Tailings from uranium mills

Bradbury, J. W. 2002. Insights from process-level modeling of contaminant transport from uranium mill tailings. Annual Meeting Geological Society of America, Denver, CO, United States, 2002. 

Dreesen, D. R. Marples, M. L. 1979. Uptake of trace elements and radionuclides from uranium mill tailings by four-wing Saltbush (Atripliex canescens) and Alkali Sacaton (Sporobolus air-oides). Proc. Second Symposium on Uranium Mill Tailings Management, Fort Collins, CO, USA, 19-20 November 1979, 127-143. 

Morrison SJ, Cahn LS. 1991. Mineralogical residence of alpha-emitting contamination and implications for mobilization from uranium mill tailings. J Contain Hydrol 8 1-21. 

TAILINGS. In the nuclear context, the depleted stream remaining from a uranium enrichment process or from uranium milling. In relative terms, the tailings (also occasionally referred to as tails ) are depleted uranium reduced in uranium-235, while the enrichment process is enriched in that Isotope. In general, tailings make poor sources for development of nuclear weapons or for use in radlolt ical dispersal devices (RDD) because they are low in radioactive uranium-235. 

Mill tailings are another form of nuclear waste. The residue from uranium ore extraction contains radium, the precursor of short-Hved radon and its daughters. Piles of tailings must be properly covered. 

Control layers, such as those used to minimize animal intrusion, promote drainage, and control and collect landfill gas, are often included for conventional cover systems and may also be incorporated into ET cover system designs. For example, a proposed monolithic ET cover at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico will have a biointrusion fence with 1/4-in. squares between the topsoil layer and the native soil layer to prevent animals from creating preferential pathways, potentially resulting in percolation. The biointrusion layer, however, will not inhibit root growth to allow for transpiration. At another site, Monticello Uranium Mill Tailings Site in Utah, a capillary barrier ET design has a 12-in. soil/rock admixture as an animal intrusion layer located 44 in. below the surface, directly above the capillary barrier layer. 

Dodson, M. E., Opitz, B. E. Sherwood, D. R. 1985. Two-reagent neutralization scheme for controlling the migration of contaminants from a uranium mill tailings disposal pond, PNL-SA-12629 CONF-850242,Managementof uranium mill tailings, low-level waste and hazardous waste. Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium, Fort Collins, CO, 6-8 February 1985, 401-410. 

Ruhlmann, F., Pacquet, A., Reyx, J., Thiry, J., Pagel, M. Somot, S. 1996. Evidence of dia-genetic processes in uranium mill tailings from the Ecarpiere Uranium Deposit (COGEMA - France). Proceedings of the Waste Management Conference WM 96, Tucson, AZ, 25-29 February. 

Langmuir, D., Mahoney, J. and Rowson, J.W. (2002) Arsenic releases from buried uranium mill tailings at McClean Lake application of geochemical concepts and license approved by the Canadian government. Abstracts with... 

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