Problems with flooding in the Ronneburg mining district

One of the most important uranium deposits of Wismut, the biggest uranium producer of the eastern world, was the Ronneburg mining area, located 10 km east of Gera in the central part of Germany. 110,000 t of uranium were produced in this ore field from 1950 to 1989. Mining in the Ronneburg ore field requires a knowledge of the hydrodynamic relationships during and after ground water recharge and preplanning of the flooding sequence in the mine. The technology necessary for recharge of the ground water layer and the open pit were established by flow models. Calculations were made of the transport of radioisotopes in the ground water. Preliminary results of these calculations are reported in this paper