Uranium Mining Methods: Teacher Answer Key Mining Method Benefits Impacts Underground mining • Provides jobs • Brings money to the local economy and may lead to improved local facilities and services • Permits mining operations to be largely out of sight • Allows for production in all kinds of weather conditions • Produces safety and health hazards if unauthorized persons enter mines or fall in openings • Presents numerous safety and health risks for workers working underground • Releases radon and radioactive dust into the environment • Produces contaminated soil, water and tailings that can impact the surrounding soil, air and water if not managed properly Open-pit mining • Provides jobs • Brings money to the local economy and may lead to improved local facilities and services • Allows for high production of uranium that brings money to the company • Produces safety and health hazards if unauthorized persons enter or fall in pits • Releases radon into the environment • Produces tailings/radioactive waste that can contaminate the soil, air and water In-situ leaching • Provides jobs • Brings money to the local economy and may lead to improved local facilities and services • Reduces risk of employee accidents and exposure to radiation • Costs less than other mining methods • Eliminates the concerns of open pits, radioactive dust and uranium mill tailings • Risk of spills, leaks and contamination of groundwater and potential drinking water • Releases radon into the environment • Produces waste slurries and waste water that could contaminate the environment if not managed properly • Leaching chemicals may impact or contaminate groundwater, soil and rocks • Only feasible in deposits that are saturated and have high permeability rnA United States RadTown Uranium Activity Set EPA 402-B-19-065 Environmental Protection #* Agency https://www.EPA.gov/RadTown/Activitv-4-Uranium-Mining-Methods ------- |