Restoration Insights Gained from a Field Deployment of Dithionite and Acetate at a Uranium In Situ Recovery Mine

Reimus, Paul; Clay, James; Jemison, Noah

doi:10.3390/min12060711

Restoration Insights Gained from a Field Deployment of Dithionite and Acetate at a Uranium In Situ Recovery Mine

Journal Article · Thu Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Minerals

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/min12060711· OSTI ID:1870955

Reimus, Paul; Clay, James; Jemison, Noah

Mining uranium by in situ recovery (ISR) typically involves injecting an oxidant and a complexing agent to mobilize and extract uranium in a saturated ore zone. This strategy involves less infrastructure and invasive techniques than traditional mining, but ISR often results in persistently elevated concentrations of U and other contaminants of concern in groundwater after mining. These concentrations may remain elevated for an extended period without remediation. Here, we describe a field experiment at an ISR facility in which both a chemical reductant (sodium dithionite) and a biostimulant (sodium acetate) were sequentially introduced into a previously mined ore zone in an attempt to establish reducing geochemical conditions that, in principle, should decrease and stabilize aqueous U concentrations. While several lines of evidence indicated that reducing conditions were established, U concentrations did not decrease, and in fact increased after the amendment deployments. We discuss likely reasons for this behavior, and we also discuss how the results provide insights into improvements that could be made to the restoration process to benefit from the seemingly detrimental behavior.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE); USDOE Office of Technology Transitions (OTT); USEPA

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1870955

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1880511

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-22-23353; PII: min12060711

Journal Information:: Minerals, Journal Name: Minerals Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 12; ISSN MBSIBI; ISSN 2075-163X

Publisher:: MDPI AGCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Switzerland

Language:: English

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Restoration Insights Gained from a Field Deployment of Dithionite and Acetate at a Uranium In Situ Recovery Mine

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