Summary report on reprocessing evaluation of selected inactive uranium mill tailings sites

Sandia National Laboratories has been assisting the Department of Energy in the Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Actions Program (UMTRAP) the purpose of which is to implement the provisions of Title I of Public Law 95-604, ''Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978.'' As part of this program, there was a need to evaluate the mineral concentration of the residual radioactive materials at some of the designated processing sites to determine whether mineral recovery would be practicable. Accordingly, Sandia contracted Mountain States Research and Development (MSRD), a division of Mountain States Mineral Enterprises, to drill, sample, and test tailings at 12 sites to evaluate the cost of and the revenue that could be derived from mineral recovery. UMTRAP related environmental and engineering sampling and support activities were performed in conjunction with the MSRD operations. This summary report presents a brief description of the various activities in the program and of the data and information obtained and summarizes the results. 8 refs., 9 tabs