Hydrogeologic aspects of reclamation of the ray point tailings facility

In the past few decades, disposal of wastes from uranium mills has been accomplished by transporting the waste material in slurry form to impoundments constructed specifically to retain the wastes. Because of the decline in demand for uranium products, many of the uranium mills in the country have been decommissioned making it necessary to initiate reclamation of the tailings facilities. Recent concern over pollution of groundwater resources has resulted in regulations which requires a tailings reclamation plan to address potential impacts to groundwater as a result of seepage from the reclaimed tailings impoundment. The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of the hydrogeologic aspects of reclamation of a tailings impoundment located in south Texas