Uranium Removal

The Department of Energy Office of Oversight has identified improper disposal of hazardous and radioactive materials on and off site and the release of contaminated water into streams and drainage ditches. Radioactive waste from uranium enrichment plants are governed by two federal environmental statutes-the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980, as amended, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended. These statutes provide broad federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment and to regulate the safe management and disposal of hazardous and other solid wastes.

The cleanup of uranium enrichment sites includes the following sites:

  • Groundwater – billions of gallons of groundwater are contaminated with radioactive and hazardous materials
  • Surface water – a principal source of this contamination is rain runoff from the thousands of tons of contaminated scrap metal located at each of the enrichment sites
  • Surface soils – both on and off site soils and sediments are contaminated by water runoff, spills and buried waste
  • Legacy waste
  • DOE material storage areas
  • Burial grounds – containing barrels of chemicals with low levels of radioactivity and hazardous chemicals

Removal of radioactive containing heavy metals at uranium enrichment sites may be achieved through the usage of activated alumina. Spherules of activated alumina with defined pore sizes adsorb heavy metals from effluent discharge and provide the vehicle for binding to these radioactive materials. Clean up of this radioactive effluent is a final polishing step in the process of decontamination in order to allow the environment to once again become “safe”. Produced with DAI’s unique, patented technology, Dyna-Aqua™ Uranium results in a material with superior performance and capacities – exhibiting high selectivity in the presence of competing ions with good kinetics over a broad operating range.

Dyna-Aqua™ Uranium Product Info | Removal of Radioactive Effluent Waste from Uranium Enrichment Plants