Environmental considerations related to uranium exploration

Concerns have been expressed at public forums about the environmental effects of uranium exploration, including the contamination of ground or surface water as a result of drilling, releases of clouds of radon gas, indiscriminate abandoning of uranium-bearing ore samples around exploration sites, and the generation of radioactive dust with subsequent downwind contamination of soil and vegetation. As a result, several companies involved in uranium exploration have undertaken worker and environmental monitoring programs in Canada and the United States. In general, data from these programs indicate that many of the postulated hazards are of little consequence, and then only to those on site. If mineralization is encountered that contains more than 500-1000 ppm uranium, precautions could be taken to reduce environmental contamination and worker exposure