Tha safest place for uranium is to leave it undisturbed in natural ore deposits,because it is the most dangerous substance on our planet. As you no doubt know, even left undisturbed when it reacts with oxygen it produces radon gas. In the UK radon gas is responsible for over 1100 deaths from lung cancer each year. Fortunately this problem in Australia is minimal. If the ore is removed, as you suggest, it is milled which grinds it to sandlike grains, increasing its surface area and hence its reactivity, making it far more dangerous. Because most uranium ore deposits remove less than half of the radioactivity when processed at the mine site, huge amounts in the form of buried tailings sands stored at the mine site, sit waiting for future mobility. In situ leaching ISL where reactive agents are pumped into the ore body to dissolve uranium and then pumped out again, seems like a viable alternative, but risks finding its way into underground aquifers creating an even more catastrophic problem as seen in fracking of gas fields. So to return to a safer alternative, the only other option is to leave it undisturbed.
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