effects of land reclamation practices

The optimum time interval between sampling events would depend on the potential hazards and the remedial action options (including natural attenuation), considering contamination scenarios that could occur over the time period between sampling events. Aluminum contamination can also cause adverse effects on birds and other animals that eat contaminated fish and insects, such as eggshell thinning and low birth weights of chicks (Lenntech, 2011a). In addition to the mill, operational facilities at Cluff Lake also included a tailings management area with a two-stage liquid effluent treatment system and surface water diversion ditches, a residential camp area, and various other site infrastructure. Knowledge gained through baseline and operational monitoring can be used to improve the understanding of site-specific hydrogeology and contaminant transport pathways. The GEP emphasized the importance of maintaining a dialogue between the local and national levels to reinforce information sharing and follow up on actions. The authors concluded that inorganic selenium was being adsorbed by phytoplankton in Fox Lake, settling to the bottom sediments, being converted to organic forms by microorganisms present in the sediment, and being transferred to benthic invertebrates that feed on organic detritus present in the sediment. A thorough site characterization, supplemented by air quality and hydrological modeling, is essential for estimating the potential environmental impacts of uranium mining and processing under site-specific conditions and mitigation practices. Processing will take place in a building, and significant controls can be in place to keep emissions to a minimum. In fact, reclamation processes typically begin while active mining is still occurring in another area of a mine. There are different practices and different regulations and laws for mining in different countries. The impacts of these activities in Virginia would depend on site-specific conditions, the rigor of the monitoring program established to provide early warning of contaminant migration, and the efforts to mitigate and control potential impacts. Both dissolved and solids-associated contaminants in the tailings present a hazard to groundwater but the risk can be mitigated by recycling and treating water in tailings management facilities (see Chapter 4). Thorium was retained in riverbed sediments and was detected only at very low levels in fish. This could include managers of the facility, support staff, technical experts, regulatory officials, potentially exposed residents nearby, and public interest groups. During early years of operation, mine tailings at this site were discharged onto a flat, low-lying area adjacent to the processing facility; about 0.26 million gallons per day (1 million L/day) of liquid tailings wastes were discharged to a nearby river, and the solid tailings proved highly erodible during wet-season rain events. Threats to groundwater quality related to modern tailings management originate from two sources: (1) failure of the structures designed to limit the movement of contaminants from the tailings into surrounding groundwater (e.g., tailings retaining structures, failure of the liners(s) and leak collection systems), and (2) inadequate hydraulic isolation in belowgrade disposal facilities (e.g., pump failure in active isolation, inadequate understanding of site hydrogeology, inadequate compaction of tailings in passive hydraulic isolation). Mine Safety Ensuring Kentucky coal miners are provided with a safe working environment, effective training and ensure the statutes and regulations regarding coal mining are enforced. The spatial extent of baseline monitoring would need to encompass the mine site and offsite areas with potential for environmental impacts, with particular attention paid to downgradient groundwater resources and downstream water resources that could be affected by water pollutants released from the mining operations. Mine dewatering activities have the potential to affect surface water quality, particularly if the discharge is not treated. Final reclamation of the land after the mine is closed (the process of restoring land that has been mined to a natural or economically usable state) Negative Effects Of Mining On The Environment, Wildlife & Humans. Thus, although initial monitoring objectives are identified for each of the chosen environmental compartments, the monitoring strategy needs to be adaptable to respond to new knowledge. Nevertheless, arsenic and selenium may be present in other uranium ore deposits in Virginia. Surface mining, on the other hand, would be expected to produce significant increases in surface runoff (especially stormflow) on-site relative to the unmined condition. Reclamation activities sometimes can also employ passive means of ecosystem restoration—wherein a less intensive management approach is taken and, for example, flora and fauna are allowed to self-colonize after soil replacement and stabilization are completed. Similarly, Muscatello and Janz (2009a) found selenium accumulation in phytoplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish in Vulture Lake, which receives treated effluent from the McClean Lake mine site. unless or until detected in monitoring wells around the site. A wide variety of uranium toxicity studies have been performed using terrestrial plants, soil invertebrates, soil microorganisms, aquatic invertebrates, fish, and mammals. In 1850, the Act was made applicable to 12 other States, and in 1860, it was extended to include lands in two additional States (Shaw and Fredine, 1956) (table 1). The geochemistry and mineralogy of 230Th and 226Ra (1,625-year half-life) are of particular importance from a water quality perspective, given their relatively long half-lives. However, the vast majority of contemporary reclamation and restoration efforts are based on technical reclamation, which exceeds simply repairing the affected property. New roadways and railways that disturb forestland may have the consequence of bisecting and disturbing habitat. Providing timely and readily accessible information to stakeholders about measured environmental contaminant levels and doses to persons can provide assurances to the community that they are not subject to adverse impacts that are unseen and unmeasured. The MARLAP Manual was prepared to address the need for a nationally consistent approach to producing radioanalytical laboratory data that meet a project’s or program’s data requirements and is considered to be the definitive guide for sampling and analysis. Although 90-95 percent of the uranium in the ore is extracted during processing (thus reducing uranium concentrations by at least an order of magnitude), most of the uranium decay products (e.g., 230Th, 226Ra, 222Rn), which may comprise the majority of the total radioactivity of the ore, stay in the tailings (Hebel et al., 1978, Van Metre and Gray, 1992). Thus, it is difficult—if not impossible—to get a full count of the number of abandoned coal mines worldwide. Carbonate and bicarbonate. Problems with AMD are nearly ubiquitous in the literature for uranium mines around the world, including sites in Australia (Mudd and Patterson, 2010), Germany (Biehler and Falck, 1999), Ontario, Canada (Berthelot et al., 1999), Saskatchewan, Canada (Waite et al., 1988), Portugal (Neves and Matias, 2008), and Brazil (Campos et al., 2011), as well as for virtually all types of mining (e.g., underground mining of high-sulfur coal deposits). Mined-Out areas that develop over hundreds to thousands of years, and washing construction before... Back to the local vicinity of an organism keys to any environmental and worker-safety regulations draft! Contamination are preferred over relying on groundwater quantity controls, however, is an essential component of any uranium and. Researching the available literature because of its location immediately downstream of the potential propagating! 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