Environmental clean-up of the East German uranium mining legacy:The WISMUT remediation program

摘要

Since 1991 Wismut GmbH has been working on perhaps the largest mine closure program ofthe world. This program started almost two decades ago and entails the remediation of thelegacy of the former Soviet-East German uranium mining industry, which produced some216,000 tonnes of uranium between 1946 and 1990. The 1990 inventory of the liabilitiescomprised 37 km~2operations areas,～320 million m~3waste rock, 178 3uraniumtailings, one open pit, and five large underground mines. The prime goal of the Wismutenvironmental remediation program follows from the legal requirement to abate health risks,mitigate existing environmental damages and prevent future hazards. The extent of remedialmeasures was derived by investigation of the object-specific remediation feasibility ratherthan by application of uniform standards. By 2008 more than 98 % of the undergroundworkings have been remediated. The remediation of the surface liabilities that includingdismantling of structures, waste rock pile remediation, tailings stabilization and area clean-uphas been completed to about 70 %. The remediation program is projected to be completedafter 2015. Following remediation, tasks such as water treatment, environmental monitoring,and maintenance, will gain priority. The paper provides a brief overview of the WISMUTprogram, highlighting selected results and presenting the remediation status achieved.