Current status.

Currently it is planned to perform remediation of waste of landfills blocks of spent uranium mines in Kazakhstan. As part of these works it is planned to eliminate wells (filling with gravel-sand mixture, the removal of soil from the tip of the well, filling potentially fertile soil) and sand pond, removal and disposal of contaminated soil, replacing stripped clean soil). Calculations show that the acidification of the groundwater at underground uranium leaching (further UUL) is quite local (spreading of the acidic solution is no more than 300 m from the leaching area), and its effects disappear within 20-60 years in different fields.

The project’ influence on progress in this area. Successful implementation of the project will develop an efficient technology that allows to speed up the recovery of the environment during the remediation activities. The developed technology can be further tested and used for reclamation of other used uranium deposits.

The participants’ expertise. The scientists taking part in the project have considerable experience in uranium in-situ leaching and in the field of radioactive waste management and the treatment of liquid metal coolant of BN-350.

Expected results and their application. The implementation of this Project will lead to understanding the remediation process of uranium in-situ leaching mines. Moreover this project would give the opportunity for safety disposal of 610 tones of refined sodium of BN-350 reactor without secondary RW production.

Meeting the ISTC goals and objectives. More than 50% of the experts participating in the project are scientists, engineers and technicians, who used to be engaged in the development and production of nuclear weapon. The project combines the efforts of scientists and experts, and provides integration of scientists into the international scientific community.

Scope of activities.The following activities will be implemented under the Project:

The research group of Dr. Mark Sutton from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (California, USA) will take part in this project as a collaborator. Area of ??interest of Dr. Sutton and his research group include environmental radiochemistry, disposal of radioactive waste in geological formations, nuclear forensics. According to the letter of Dr. Sutton dated 14 September 2016, his team is ready to provide scientific support to us and share with us the information with the aim of checking a possible computational and experimental studies which would be carried out within the framework of this project.

Technical approach and methodology. IHT representatives will perform sampling of soils, technological solutions, conducting of experiments and project administration. NTSC will be responsible for Kazakhstani organization expertise work.