The Mining Of Uranium Mining

Uranium is a naturally occuring chemical element that can be mined from ore in many parts of the Southwestern United States where

On December 3, 2014, I conducted a Health and Safety Inspection (EO1) at Warrior Coal LLC, Cardinal underground mine. I went to the mine to monitor the operators dust sampling; however, they were not sampling. Due to the operator not sampling I decided to travel to the # 2 Unit 002-0 and 004-0 Mechanized Mining Unit (MMU) to check the dust Parameters.

Miners systematically removed the resource and ship it to the surface. Subsurface mining is generally done for metals such as zinc, lead, nickel, tin, gold, copper and uranium. Subsurface mining is extremely dangerous due to natural gas explosions, which can cause shafts and tunnels to collapse.

Naturally forming uranium undergoes radioactive decay by emission of an alpha particle and gamma radiation. As the decay continues, it releases radiation.This is an extreme health issue that, in large amounts, can cause cancer and liver damage.

The mining has become a controversial topic due to the mass publicity regarding the potential danger of nuclear power and uranium mining, not to mention the objections by some Indigenous groups. The controversy is significant

The Olympic Dam mine is a large metallic mine and collects copper cathode, uranium oxide concentrates and gold and silver ores. Copper is often found in other rocks as a green/ blue feature, it is then processed to become copper cathode before distributed and sold. Uranium oxide concentrate is a form of uranium oxide which is then derived from

If they see or locate any Uranium, the mine will continue to excavate soil and find Uranium in that area. Uranium is extracted, especially in two different ways. Open Pit Mining, one of the most common extraction techniques for uranium, is used by stripping away the excess soil near the mineral, and then, after cutting away the sides of the ore, pumping the Uranium ore out of the rock or soil. Another excavation technique, Underground Mining, is a technique used when Uranium ore is too deep for Open Pit extraction. When Uranium is too deep to mine by hand, the soil or rock will be drilled and the sediments are taken away to a mill to separate. Once this debris has been taken to a mill and the soil has been separated from the Uranium, a significant amount of waste is exported into rivers and natural

The use of autonomous and robotic systems (drones, hexapod, and rovers), will be implemented to do research on radiation contamination levels on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. Accordingly, uranium (U) mining occurred on the Navajo Reservation for over 40 years (1944-1986) where over 30 million tons were extracted on Navajo Territory. To clarify, uranium is a metal element found in different parts of the universe, having the characteristics of nuclear energy that emits radiation. However, due to the slow process of radioactive decay, radiation contamination is harmful to the environment, and the general population when in contact causing harmful life-threatening illnesses. In addition, radioactive decay lasts for several years, to billions of years. Consequently, contamination has left over 500 abandoned mines, homes, and drinking water with elevated levels of radiation on the Navajo Reservation. In contrast, contamination results in lung cancer, bone cancer, and impaired kidney function from exposure in radionuclides in drinking water. The use of

one and only way to get materials out of earths surface, however it has a major affect on the environment, which then affect the people. The impacts can vary depends on what type of mine it is, for example if it a uranium mines, then it is guaranteed that the surrounded area, water, soil and vegetables will be turned it to radioactive materials. Uranium will decay by emitting alpha particles accompanied by weak gamma radiation, which travels at the speed of light (3*108). Since alpha particle travels at the speed of light, it can penetrate human’s organs and could kill people (Radiation protection, 2015). A Half life of uranium-238 is 4.47 billion years, which means even after the mine is shout down the place will be radio active for billions of years. This can result in children being born with disabilities. Scientists have found that uranium can bind to human DNA (research, 2006).

The first way to mine uranium is open pit mining or also known as strip mining. Open pit mining is the removal of the top soil and the rocky soil to get to the ore. This kind of mining can only happen if the uranium is near the surface (less than 400 feet normally). Underground mining is the second way you can mine Uranium. Underground Mining is used to get higher amounts of uranium that are too deep to get from an open pit mine. In underground mining the ore is drilled, then blasted to make debris which is then transported to the surface

Traditional mining involves the sinking of a vertical shaft into the Earth to an appropriate depth. Then the shafts are driven into horizontal tunnels into the chalcopyrite ore. There is an open pit, as seen in Figure

Uranium mining in and near the Grand Canyon will be devastating to the complex ecosystem found in the park and will also have a damaging effect on visitors’ experiences. Uranium mining produces toxic waste that if not managed properly will leak into the groundwater systems. This threatens not only the local animal and plant life but also people who use the watershed for their drinking water. Individuals should consider the detrimental effects of additional noise and air pollution produced by the mining operations, the very serious threat of what a contaminated aquifer would mean to the Park’s health and the health of the 20 million people who live downstream. Additionally mining operations will need to install roads and buildings to support

Even though shielding could be used in a similar fashion to the Apollo program, materials harvested from the body may also be contaminated. As a result, mining machinery would need to be used remotely in order to avoid dangerous exposure.

I learned that mines were abandoned and in this case we have the responsible helping out. In other cases like the Gold King Mine in Colorado that it was used in the early 1900’s, the responsible that abandoned the mines were from Canada and are no were to be found. The problem with these mines is that when they extract all the uranium and there is no need for the mines, these mines need to be abandoned and closed. Unfortunately, there was no cleanup process when the mines were abandoned. Leaving the areas contaminated and the water from the rain transporting the contamination to other areas. 100 years ago, there was no standard on how to properly abandon a mine. Now days, the EPA and the state environmental departments are responsible to enforce the proper abandonment procedures and make sure the closure will not contaminate nearby areas or the water used for drinking, crops, and other human and animal uses. The runoff of the mine contamination can increase the total dissolve solids (TDS) in the nearby waters, making it non usable for human consumption and fish

Underground mining accounted for 96% of the coal produced each year when it was done manually, and this was fifty years ago. Most underground mines are located to the east of the Mississippi River; however there are some in Utah and Colorado. More than two-thirds of the coal mined underground is done so using continuous mining machines in the room-pillar method. The continuous miner breaks the coal with tungsten bits on a revolving cylinder, and then conveys it to waiting shuttles which then take the coal to the