[en] The intent of this paper is to discuss Long Term Environmental Stewardship (LTS) primarily as it relates to uranium mill tailings disposal facilities and more specifically to the US Department of Energy's Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project (UMTRAP). The first portion of the paper discusses why and how to plan for LTS activities. The second portion of the paper describes what those LTS activities may consist of. The last portion of the paper discusses some observations and lessons learned over time on the UMTRA LTSM Program. (author)

[en] The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared an environmental assessment (EA) (DOE/EA-0347) on the proposed surface remediation of the Maybell uranium mill processing site in Moffat County, Colorado. The mill site contains radioactively contaminated materials from processing uranium ore that would be stabilized in place at the existing tailings pile location. Based on the analysis in the EA, DOE has determined that the proposed action does not constitute a major federal action significantly affecting the quality of the human environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, Public Law 91-190 (42 U.S.C. section 4321 et seq.), as amended. Therefore, preparation of an environmental impact statement is not required and DOE is issuing this Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI)

[en] In cross flow filtration contaminated fluid, or feed stream, is fed at a high velocity down the center of a porous tube. Clear fluid weeps through the porous wall of the tube while the suspended solids concentrate in and are swept away by the feed stream

[en] From the environmental point of view, the regional uranium mining and milling industry imposes a heavy burden on the public. This situation is examined with regard to five hidden subsidies to the industry: lack of stewardship in land management; definition of valuable deposit; air and water contamination; lack of an effective severance tax; the regulatory bureaucracy. Four suggestions are made to improve the situation

[en] It is believed that domestic utilities will adopt a policy of limited or relatively modest forward coverage procurement instead of full or long term coverage. If this happens, it becomes desirable for utilities to participate directly in the finding and the production of uranium for their long term needs. In this event, it becomes absolutely necessary for all the interests (the producer, consumer, lender, and the controller) to have much better statistical information than is presently available

[en] This study proposed two processes for the treatment of lagoon sludge and evaluated in points of the expected technological difficulties on the bases of the characteristics of the sludge and available technologies. It was predicted that the volume reduction of sludge would be about 38% and 20% in the thermal decomposition and the dissolution/filtration process, respectively. However, two processes have difficulties for the installation and operation of process. Therefore, the process should be chosen after carrying out the basic experiment for improvement of two processes

[en] The principles, means, examples and newly-developed technologies about radioactive pollution decontaminating in decommissioning of uranium mines and mills are introduced in this paper. The decontaminating means and ways in decommissioning of uranium mines and mills in China are discussed

[en] The existing problems of settling tank with mechanical agitation in uranium mills were analyzed. The designed structure of this equipment and operating parameters which influenced the quality and recovery rate of uranium were optimized. A favorable effect was obtained by improving the structural form and size of the tank, method of mother liquor separation, type of agitation impeller, rotational speed and motor power. (authors)

[en] A profit-making process for the exploitation of low grade uranium is presented. The process of lixiviation will be used, which will make it possible to obtain a final product whose humidity level will not exceed 10% and whose uranium oxide content will be no less than 68%. The operations of the plant are described. The plant can produce between 100 and 150 t of U₃O₈/yr in the form of yellow cake

[en] The reclamation of 24 uranium mill tailings piles under the DOE Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) program has provided an opportunity to compare the material properties of uranium tailings from different processing operations and different mineral belts. These results have shown that although the tailings have had different grinding processes and have come from different parts of the country, the material properties fit into a very close band of results. Although mill tailings material characteristics have been presented for other mill tailings, no such comparison exists for United States uranium mill tailings. This paper presents the compilation and comparison of data from uranium mill tailing piles data collected as part of the UMTRA program