Waste Stream Management for the Uranium Industry

铀业是加拿大经济的主要经济驱动力。尽管行业参与者和监管机构尽了最大努力，但铀矿石的开采和精炼对进行这些活动的当地环境有影响。该项目旨在调查问题并提供解决方案，以帮助减少铀提取和精炼的影响。与该项目特别相关的是钼和钚污染物以及铀本身。这个项目有三个子项目，每个子项目都旨在加强我们对这些污染物一旦排放到环境中的行为的了解，并研究减少排放或减轻排放的影响的方法。一旦铀沉积，将研究铀在沉积物中的再活化问题。在理论上，存在于缺氧沉积物中的铀是固定的，因此不会引起环境问题，然而，我们最近的证据表明，即使在缺氧条件下，也可以将大量的铀释放到上覆水域。我们将确定什么条件允许这次释放。钚-210是一种剧毒物质，是铀衰变系列的产物，因此与铀矿开采有关。虽然排放水中的Po-210浓度极低，但在接收水中的一些生物群中发现了可检测到的浓度。该项目将研究Po在营养层次之间的转移，以确定生物积累发生的途径。将确定采矿废水和接收水中钼的形态。的发展。

The uranium industry is a major economic driver for the Canadian economy. Despite the best efforts of industry participants and regulatory bodies, the extraction and refining of uranium ore has impacts on the local environments where these activities take place. This project is designed to investigate issues and provide solutions that help to reduce the impacts of uranium extraction and refining. Of specific relevance to this project are the contaminants molybdenum and polonium as well as uranium itself. This project has three sub-projects, each of which is designed to enhance our understanding of the behaviour of these contaminants once released into the environment and to examine ways to reduce releases or mitigate the impacts of releases. The problem of remobilization of U in sediments once the U has been deposited will be investigated. In theory, U present in anoxic sediments is immobile and thus not of environmental concern, However, our recent evidence suggests that even under anoxic conditions significant amounts U can be released to overlying waters. We will determine what conditions permit this release. Polonium-210, a highly toxic substance, is a daughter of the U decay series and is thus associated with U mining. Although the concentrations of Po-210 are extremely low in discharge waters, detectable concentrations are found in some biota in receiving waters. This project will examine transfer of Po across trophic levels to determine the pathway of bioaccumulation occurring. Speciation of Mo in mining effluents and receiving waters will be determined. The development of