UMTRAP technology development program: a progress report

Serving as interim technical assistance contractor to the DOE's Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project Office, Sandia National Laboratories assists the Project Office in directing and monitoring technology development programs directed toward assuring compliance with EPA standards for tailings disposal. This paper summarizes progress to date in the areas of cover technology, liner technology and conditioning technology. The presently proposed EPA standards for tailings disposal include very stringent specifications for long-term stability, radon exhalation and groundwater contamination. These standards are now under review, and some relaxation appears likely. The author offers purely personal speculations as to the content of the revised standards and their effect on the technology development program