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EPA issues warning on in-situ uranium mining and water safety

Water concerns delay Wyoming uranium projects By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER -Star-Tribune , March 26, 2010 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to go back to the drawing board with its site-specific environmental reviews of three proposed in-situ uranium mines in Wyoming.The in-situ method of mining uranium involves a series of wells used to flush a sodium bicarbonate solution through a formation dissolving the uranium, which is then pumped to the surface.

Of particular concern to the EPA is the potential contamination of aquifers that provide drinking water.

Carol Rushin, acting regional administrator of EPA’s Region 8 office, sent a letter to the NRC earlier this month criticizing the fact that the analysis for each project only considered one wastewater disposal method: deep “Class I” injection wells.

For example, Ur Energy’s proposed Lost Creek project in Sweetwater County would inject wastewater at a depth of about 8,400 feet. But the Safe Drinking Water Act requires that Class I wastes be injected below the lowermost underground source of drinking water, Rushin wrote. In the Lost Creek area, both the Tensleep and Madison formations exist below the proposed 8,400-foot injection zone.

The same situation exists throughout many areas of the Rockies. That means if states are forced to enforce this view of Class I injection, it presents a major hurdle for dozens of proposed in-situ uranium proposals in the region

April 2, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, water | antinuclear, nuclear costs, uranium, water