Uranium reclamation

Dave, N. K. and A. J. Vivyurka. 1994. Water cover on acid generating uranium tailings—laboratory and field studies. In Proceedings of International Land Reclamation and Mine Drainage Conference and Third International Conference on the Abatement of Acidic Drainage. Pittsburgh, PA, April 24-29, 1994, pp. 1,297. 

The reclamation and remediation of many contaminated sites, and uranium mill tailings sites in particular, have relied on natural attenuation processes. A number of physical, chemical, and biological processes can reduce the concentrations of contaminants. 

As we discussed earlier, the need for predictions of spatial and temporary concentration distributions is driven by regulatory requirements. For the example of the uranium mill tailings impoundment discussed above, in order to receive approval for the cover and naturally attenuate reclamation plan, the license applicant needs to show to the regulatory agency that natural attenuation can effectively reduce the contaminant concentration levels so that the licensed groundwater constituents will not exceed regulatory levels at the point of compliance. 

Skull-reclamation process. The skull-reclamation process was developed by Argonne National Laboratory and used at the Idaho EBR-II Fuel Cycle Facility in the 1960s to recover uranium... 

The southerly strip of the island consists of elements termed the actinides. Until the effort associated with the development of the atomic bomb—the Manhattan Project, of the 1940s—the kingdom did not extend beyond uranium (except perhaps in distant stars). The Manhattan Project was effectively a land-reclamation project on the Southern Island the discovery and manufacture of the so-called transuranium elements extended the kingdom and completed the southern strip of the island. A similar reclamation project is still in progress on the southern coast of the mainland, and every few years it is extended eastward by another region. There is little use for most of these latter-day regions, for they are so unstable that they survive only for very short times. In 1994, for instance, it was reported that one atom of element 110 had been manufactured— maybe. 

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