Accelerated aging tests of liners for uranium mill tailings disposal

Technical Report · Sun Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5962801· OSTI ID:5962801

Barnes, S M; Buelt, J L; Hale, V Q

This document describes the results of accelerated aging tests to determine the long-term effectiveness of selected impoundment liner materials in a uranium mill tailings environment. The study was sponsored by the US Department of Energy under the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project. The study was designed to evaluate the need for, and the performance of, several candidate liners for isolating mill tailings leachate in conformance with proposed Environmental Protection Agency and Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements. The liners were subjected to conditions known to accelerate the degradation mechanisms of the various liners. Also, a test environment was maintained that modeled the expected conditions at a mill tailings impoundment, including ground subsidence and the weight loading of tailings on the liners. A comparison of installation costs was also performed for the candidate liners. The laboratory testing and cost information prompted the selection of a catalytic airblown asphalt membrane and a sodium bentonite-amended soil for fiscal year 1981 field testing.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 5962801
• Report Number(s): DOE/UMT-0205; PNL-4049; ON: DE82004577
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
360403 -- Materials-- Polymers & Plastics-- Mechanical Properties-- (-1987)
360603 -- Materials-- Properties
510301 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Soil-- (-1987)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ABANDONED SITES
AGING
ASPHALTS
BENTONITE
BITUMENS
BUILDING MATERIALS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
CONCRETES
COST
DATA
ELASTOMERS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FEED MATERIALS PLANTS
FINANCIAL DATA
INDUSTRIAL PLANTS
INFORMATION
INSTALLATION
LINERS
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
MEMBRANES
MILL TAILINGS
MINERALS
NATURAL RUBBER
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUMERICAL DATA
ORES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLYETHYLENES
POLYMERS
POLYOLEFINS
RUBBERS
SOILS
SOLID WASTES
STABILIZATION
TAILINGS
TAR
TESTING
URANIUM ORES
WASTES