Uranium mill tailings: nuclear waste and natural laboratory for geochemical and radioecological investigations.
Uranium mill tailings (UMT) are a high volume, low specific activity radioactive waste typically disposed in surface impoundments. This review focuses on research on UMT and related earth materials during the past decade relevant to the assessment of: (1) mineral hosts of radionuclides; (2) the use of soil analogs in predicting long-term fate of radionuclides; (3) microbial and diagenetic processes that may alter radionuclide mobility in the surficial environment; (4) waste-management technologies to limit radionuclide migration; and (5) the impact of UMT on biota.
US Geological Survey, 430 National Center, Reston VA 20192, USA. erlanda@usgs.gov
Edward R
ER
Landa
D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D005844:Geology; D006801:Humans; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014501:Uranium / Q000032:analysis*; D018505:Waste Management
D011850:Radioactive Waste; D011868:Radioisotopes; D014501:Uranium