Analysis of drainage and consolidation at typical uranium mill tailings sites

Technical Report · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5807901

Fayer, M J; Conbere, W

The computer code TRUNC was used to analyze three aspects of uranium mill tailings dewatering: the coupling of consolidation and fluid flow, drainage design, and cover load. One-dimensional simulations of the effects of consolidation on fluid flow within a tailings pile of either slimes or a sand/slimes mix showed that drainage flux was greater for a consolidating system early in the simulation. However, after days 1400 and 160 of the simulations for the slimes and sand/slimes mix, respectively, the fluxes from the nonconsolidating systems were greater. In the sand/slimes mix, the nonconsolidating system had a cumulative flux by day 5000 that was 93% of that of the consolidating system. At the same time, in the slimes tailings piles the nonconsolidating system had a cumulative flux of only 34% of that of the consolidating system. This difference indicates that consolidation and fluid flow should not be decoupled for the slimes. Two-dimensional simulations of an actual tailings pile drainage design showed that a sand blanket drain increased the rate of drainage and settlement. The sand blanket drain also significantly reduced differential settlement across the pile. This indicates that the use of a sand blanket drain could enable earlier placement of the cover system after tailings emplacement. In simulations of covered and uncovered tailings piles, nearly the same quantity of water was removed from each, but drainage occurred much more slowly without the cover; hence, surface settlement was slower when the tailings pile was not covered. 10 refs., 19 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5807901
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CR-4192; PNL-5421; ON: TI85013274
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
COVERINGS
CRACKS
FEED MATERIALS PLANTS
MILL TAILINGS
WATER REMOVAL
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DRAINAGE
FLUID FLOW
HEALTH HAZARDS
RADON
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HAZARDS
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
RARE GASES
REMOVAL
SIMULATION
SOLID WASTES
TAILINGS
WASTES
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
053000 - Nuclear Fuels- Environmental Aspects