Practical knowledge of covering soft tailings and strengthening tailings impoundments for long-term stability by the remediation of tailings ponds at Wismut GmbH

摘要

Based on experiences with pond remediation in uranium ore processing plants in Saxony and Thuringia, the procedure of covering soft and weakly portative pond deposits is illustrated. The application of geosynthetics presents a vital method of guaranteeing safe and efficient remedial work. The fields of application of the different geosynthetics and the essential worksteps according to the geotech-nical point of view are discussed within the overall scope of the remediation work. One main field is the installation of geogrids and their contribution to an improved plane load bearing effect in fine tailings layers to prevent the occurrence of shear failure. Furthermore, the presentation allows an insight into the geotechnical investigations and the resulting measures required to guarantee long-term stability of the dam constructions. Particularly existing dam constructions must undergo considerable flattening measures to anticipate any possible earthquake activity.