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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency concerned about in-situ uranium mining

The federal agency is concerned that injecting wastewater underground could pollute drinking water supplies.

Wyo. OK’ing uranium permits despite EPA concerns, THE HUFFINGTON POST,  16 April 2010, CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is proceeding with permits to allow uranium developers to inject wastewater underground despite federal regulators’ concerns.The department recently issued a draft permit to allow Ur Energy Inc. to operate five underground injection wells at the company’s proposed Lost Creek uranium mine in Sweetwater County.

The agency is accepting public comments on the draft permit through April 26.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, has raised objections that could hold up federal certification of the Sweetwater County project and two other similar projects in the state. The federal agency is concerned that injecting wastewater underground could pollute drinking water supplies.The proposed uranium mines would use the in-situ method of mining, in which chemicals are injected into underground ore to free the uranium. Water holding the uranium is then pumped to the surface where the uranium is separated and refined………….

Ur Energy proposes to inject wastewater from the Lost Creek operation to a depth of about 8,400 feet, above both the Tensleep and the Madison aquifers.

Rushin noted that the Safe Drinking Water Act requires that Class I wastes be injected deeper than the deepest underground source of drinking water. She said that would present a major hurdle for dozens of proposed in-situ uranium projects in the region……….. Wyo. OK’ing uranium permits despite EPA concerns

April 17, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | USA, water | antinuclear, nuclear technology, nuclear wastes, radioactive, uranium