Paths Forward: Current International and US Initiatives to Support More Sustainable Options for Uran

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Paths Forward Current International and US
Initiatives to Support More Sustainable Options
for Uranium Production

• WM Symposium
• Phoenix, Arizona
• 25 February 2008
• Michelle Rehmann
• Director of Uranium Projects
• Caitlin Rood
• Sustainability Engineer
• Tetra Tech Inc.
• USA

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Sustainability

• "Meeting the needs of the present without
  compromising the ability of future generations to
  meet their needs."
• World Commission on Environment and Development
• Our Common Future
• 1987
•  

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Evolution of Environmental Management
1990 - 1998
Sustainability
2000 - present
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The Triple Bottom Line
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Sustainable Development

• One of the slipperiest pieces of soap you are
  ever likely to find in the shower.
• Peter Woodward
• Shell Expo SD Workshop
• March 2000

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Operating in a Fishbowl
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Implementing Sustainability
depends on your perspective
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Common Principles

• Global Integration
• Best Practice
• Human and Natural Capital
• Continual Improvement
• Governance
•  

• Transparency
• Valuation
• Integration
• Community
• Conservation
• Equity

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Sustainability is Here to Stay

• Cameco
• Rio Tinto
• Shell
• BP
• Conoco-Phillips

• GE
• WalMart
• Nike
• JPMorgan Chase
• Goldman Sachs
•  

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Relevant Initiatives

• National Mining Association
• Global Mining Initiative
• Mining, Minerals, and Sustainable Development
  Initiative
• International Council on Mining and Metals
• Global Reporting Initiative
•  

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Taking the Next Step

• MMSD
• 7 Questions to Sustainability
• 9 Key Sustainable Development Challenges for
  Mining
• ICMM
• 10 Principles for Sustainable Development
  Performance
• GRI Reporting
• Independent Verification
• BLM Awards
• Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award
• Hardrock Mineral Community Outreach and Economic
  Security Award
• Small Operator Award
• Hardrock Mineral Directors Award

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Nuclear Demand

• 16 of worlds electricity and 18 of US
  electricity
• 103 nuclear reactors in US
• 30 new nuclear reactors over next 15 years
• 74 million pound annual shortfall anticipated
•  

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Driving the Demand for Uranium a global
Nuclear Renaissance

• Domestic Uranium Production 2 3 million pounds
• 104 Power Reactors in United States with 31
  more planned by 2015
• Annual Requirements 51 52 million pounds
• 71 of US carbon-free electricity
• New reactor requirements
• Energy Security/Dependence on Foreign Sources of
  Energy

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NRC Generic Environmental Impact Statement (GEIS)

• Nuclear Regulatory Commission Generic
  Environmental Impact Statement
• Expedite Review of ISR Uranium Recovery License
  Applications by
• Creating GEIS Specifically Tailored to ISR
  Uranium Recovery
• and
• Engaging Industry, Agencies, Members of the
  Public, and Public Organizations in the Scoping
  and Notice-and-Comment Process

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NMAs GER General

• In Response to NRCs Request for Scoping
  Comments, NMA Has Prepared and Submitted a
  Detailed GER

• NMA Goal
• Provide NRC, Agreement States, Industry Members,
  and Members of the Public with A SINGLE RESOURCE
  Where Information on Industry ISR Experience Can
  Be Found

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NMAs GER Background Details

• Takes Form of a Hybrid Environmental Report and
  Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (NRC
  Guidance/NUREG-1748)
• Preamble
• The Proposed Action
• Alternatives
• Description of the Affected Environment
• Potential Impacts of Proposed Action
  Alternatives
• Mitigation Measures

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In Situ Uranium Recovery Overview

• Features
• Leaves underground ore body
• in place
• Re-circulates native
• groundwater through aquifer
• and ore body
• Fortified with oxygen and carbon dioxide
• Relatively New
• First tried experimentally in early 1960s
  commercial in 1974
• Used in USA and some other countries
• Less intrusive form of uranium recovery
• Can only be used in certain geologic settings

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ISR Ore Body Description

• Permeable, confined sandstones aquifers
• Very poor quality due to high uranium, radium and
  radon
• Tabular or C-shaped deposits within permeable
  sedimentary layer formed as roll-fronts.
• Ore body formed by the lateral groundwater
  movement
• Regional redox interface
• Location where oxygenated water is reduced and
  uranium is deposited in a reduced mineral phase
• Redistributed ore body
• In US, located in sediments of Nebraska, Texas,
  Wyoming, South Dakota, Colorado, and New Mexico.

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ISR Operations

• Most cost effective and environmentally benign
• Most used method in USA and Kazakhstan newer
  to Australia
• Leaves orebody in the ground
• Recovers minerals by moblizing and pumping water
  to the surface for recovery.
• Little surface disturbance - no tailings or waste
  rock generated. Liquid effluents are being
  delcared 11e.(2) byproduct.
• Must have permeable orebody and must locate
  pumping wells to prevent contaminating
  groundwater away from orebody.

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Pictorial representation of ISR process

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Highlights

• Surface Facilities at ISR Facilities Are
  Substantially Similar, if Not Identical
• IX Columns
• Yellowcake Packing and Dryer
• Laboratories etc.
• Subsurface Conditions Must Be Substantially
  Similar Because
• ISR-Amenable Uranium Roll-Front Deposits Would
  Not Be Present
• Confining Layers to Prevent Escape of Recovery
  Solutions Must Be Present to Form Uranium
  Roll-Front Deposits
• All Recovery Zones Contain Water Not Suitable for
  Drinking

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More Highlights

• Natural Geologic and Hydrologic Conditions
  Groundwater Restoration are Mitigation Measures

• Natural Conditions Act to Reduce Potential
  Migration of Constituents
• Confining Layers Further Prevent Migrations
• Cannot Drink the Water in the Recovery Zone
  Anyway
• Restoration Minimizes, if Not Eliminates,
  Potential Adverse Impacts on Adjacent, Non-Exempt
  Aquifers

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Timeline for ISR GEIS

• Scoping Comment Periods Ended 11/30/07
• Produce Draft EIS Proposed April/May 2008
• Final EIS Proposed January/February 2009

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IFSOUP

• Inaugural meeting of the International Forum on
  Sustainable Options for Uranium Production
• Facilitate discussions among regulators,
  industry, and NGOs to develop safe,
  environmentally protective, sustainable uranium
  production practices
•  

• Facilitators Horst Monken Fernandes and
  Michelle Rehmann
• Begins on Tuesday at 830 a.m. in PCC room 106C
• Because what better method of waste management
  exists than planning and preventing legacies?
•  1

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QUESTION PERIOD
Caitlin Rood, Sustainability Specialist Tetra
Tech, Inc. caitlin.rood_at_tetratech.com 950 17th
Street, Suite 2200 Denver, Colorado 80202
USA 1 303 312 8880
Michelle Rehmann, Director of Uranium
Projects Tetra Tech, Inc. michelle_rehmann_at_wmarizo
na.org PO Box 4989 Breckenridge, CO 80424 USA 1
303 717 5236