Electrical resistance heating for thawing of frozen uranium tailings

The Rabbit Lake In-Pit Tailings Management Facility contains frozen layers of tailings due to sub-aerial deposition during the successive winters. Thawing is required to ensure full consolidation of the tailings prior to closure and to regain disposal space presently occupied by ice. Electric resistance heating (ERH), which has been used to heat soil for bitumen extraction and remediation of volatile contaminants, was evaluated as a thawing mechanism. Two bench-scale experiments were performed wherein ERH was tested on about 0.3 cubic metres of frozen tailings frozen to a minimum of -2^oC. Thawing occurred in both experiments with negligible geochemical effects, demonstrating the viability of ERH as a tailings thawing mechanism. (author)