Decontamination of Liquid Effluents from Uranium Mine by Using Natural Zeolite

摘要

Decontamination of liquid effluents generated during mining and processing of uranium operations became an important issue for the environment. Because of negatively impacts on aquatic ecosystems and drinking water resources these effluents should be recycled back to processing circuits for reuse or treated prior to disposal or release to the environment. Treatment and control of liquid effluents are required throughout the uranium production and reclamation cycle. This study is based on decontamination of liquid effluents from uranium mine by using natural zeolite as an economical and practical solution. In this study, contaminated surface waters were taken as liquid effluents from the outcrops of uranium mine deposit in the field. A filtration column was prepared by using natural zeolite matrix as filtration material in the laboratory. The characteristics of uranium liquid effluents depend on the composition of the ore and the type of processes used to extract the uranium. Climate conditions can also play a role in treatment and control of effluents. For this reason, decontamination factors were calculated according to temperature and effects of temperature on the decontamination factors for the natural zeolite filter were determined. Decontamination test results show that temperature is positively effective on the adsorption of the zeolite filter. Increasing temperature in the decontamination column was caused increasing of adsorption up to % 15 for radioactivity.