It was an interesting read.
The unplugged boreholes and water quality seem the 2 main issues so far.
The bit I don't understand is why these two can be the issue?
On the 28th of may 2013 didn't the EPA grant strata an aquifer exception? Some key points being, The aquifer does not currently and cannot in the future serve as a source of drinking water, and. The aquifer is mineral producing and can be demonstrated to contain minerals that, considering their quantity and location, are expected to be commercially producible. all this is inline with WDEQ's (Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality) findings that proceeded
Of these two issues surely that exception clears us to use the aquifer?
The 2nd issue, I think (happy to be shown otherwise,) would b relatively easy to deal with? Does anyone know the size (diameter and depth) of these boreholes? To plug a bolehole what has to happen? Concrete? Or just infill with soil? The cost and time taken I feel would be relatively small compared to total time and $ required to get full facitily up and running?
I got this from a Scottish government page titled "Good practice for decommissioning redundant boreholes and wells" c) Backfilling the hole i) General information For most purposes the ground should be restored as closely as possible to its pre-drilled condition. The borehole or well should be backfilled with clean (washed), uncontaminated, or excavated materials so that the permeability of the selected materials are similar to the properties of the geological strata against which they are placed. The backfilled borehole will then mimic the surrounding natural strata and groundwater flow and quality will be protected. Restoration will require a variety of materials to be used so that permeable aggregates (eg pea gravel, sand) are positioned adjacent to aquifer horizons, whilst low permeability materials (eg clay, bentonite cement grout, or concrete) are positioned adjacent to low permeability horizons (see Fig. 1(B)). Alternatively, the entire borehole or well can be backfilled with low permeability materials that will prevent significant vertical or horizontal movement of groundwater through or along the borehole (see Fig. 1(C)). The materials used to backfill must be clean, inert and non-polluting. Suitable materials include pea gravel, sand, shingle, concrete, bentonite, cement grout and uncontaminated rock.
I am not completely over this whole process that we find ourselves in. There is definitely one more hearing. Is that the last? Do we expect much of the same at the next hearing?
The hardest part is filtering out the information that is potentially going to affect strata, pen and ultimately us (the shareholders.) Does an old man talking about his family and jobs affect anything? I don't think so? What about a lady talking about the drinking water supply for the city which must be close by? I'm not sure?
The weird thing for me is that right now it feels like pen, strata, EPA, NRC and Wyoming's WDEQ are all on the same side?
Is this just the process that any potential uranium miner has to go through to produce in America?
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