Engineering Assessment Of Inactive Uranium Mill Tailings Edgement Site Edgemont South Dakota

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ISBN 13 :
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Download or read book Engineering Assessment of Inactive Uranium Mill Tailings, Belfield Site, Belfield, North Dakota written by and published by . This book was released on 1981 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ford, Bacon and Davis Utah Inc. has evaluated the Belfield site in order to assess the problems resulting from the existence of radiactive ash at Belfield, South Dakota. This engineering assessment has included drilling of boreholes and radiometric measurements sufficient to determine areas and volumes of ash and radiation exposures of individuals and nearby populations, the investigations of site hydrology and meteorology, and the evaluation and costing of alternative corrective actons. Radon gas released from the 55,600 tons of ash and contaminated material at the Belfield site constitutes a significant environmental impact, although external gamma radiation also is a factor. The four alternative actions presented in this engineering assessment range from millsite and off-site decontamination with the addition of 3 m of stabilization cover material, to removal of the ash and contaminated materials to remote disposal sites, and decontamination of the Belfield site. Cost estimates for the four options range from about $1,500,000 for stabilization in-place, to about $2,500,000 for disposal at a distance of about 17 mi from the Belfield site. Reprocessing the ash for uranium recovery is not feasible because of the extremely small amount of material available at the site and because of its low U3O content.