Uranium tails in Ural and Siberia

Problems

• Uranium tails in Ural and Siberia

  The import of «uranium tailings» into Russia has taken on a gigantic scale. Waste is accepted in Seversk (Tomsk region), Angarsk (Irkutsk region), Zelenogorsk (Krasnoyarsk region), and Novouralsk (Sverdlovsk region). Recently, so-called «tailing dumps» of additional enrichment in Russia have produced at least 100,000 tons of new radioactive waste. Russia is the only country in the world that imports uranium waste. Other countries (USA, France, Germany) are trying to get rid of it because there is no technology for the effective use of this substance. And storing it until «better times» is expensive and dangerous. Uranium «tails» pose practically no radiation hazard, but they are toxic and formally belong to the category of «nuclear materials,» the disposal of which is prohibited by law in Russia.

• What are uranium tails?

  Uranium «tails,» or depleted uranium hexafluoride, are a byproduct of the nuclear industry. About 2 million tons of it have accumulated in the world, of which almost half are in Russia.
  Natural uranium mined from the ore has a small amount of isotope 235U - 0.7%, which is needed to operate the reactor, and a lot of isotope 238U. To use the uranium, the concentration of the isotope 235U must be raised to 3-4%. This process is called uranium enrichment. To separate the isotopes, uranium is converted into a gas, uranium hexafluoride (UF6). And at any enrichment enterprise, there is a useful product - enriched uranium fuel for nuclear power plants, and a waste product - depleted or waste uranium hexafluoride (UHF6). The latter is uranium «tails.»

• What are the dangers of nuclear waste?

  The depressurization of containers with uranium waste can lead not so much to radioactive contamination as to toxic contamination. In contact with water, (even those particles that are in the air) toxic hydrofluoric acid is produced. If inhaled, it causes pulmonary edema, up to and including death.
  
  Fatal cases are possible at a distance of more than 30 km from the place of release (in high humidity or fog). Under normal conditions, the «kill zone» is 500 m. As far as radioactivity is concerned, uranium waste is less dangerous than natural ore, but it also creates a radiation background. Ecologists measured the background near the cars with uranium «tails». It exceeded 6 times the natural background radiation level.
  Containers with uranium wastes are stored in the open air, many of which are more than 40 years old. Natural corrosion over time breaks their tightness. Transportation is also risky, especially when transported through cities. Because of the risk of deliberate destruction of the containers, all routes of movement, places, and conditions of storage of «tails» are strictly classified.
  
  The condition of the old containers is not known precisely, and Rosatom does not disclose these statistics. But the Concept of uranium waste management says that during 40 years of storage, «several hundreds of cases of spontaneous leakage have been recorded.»

• Where is uranium waste coming from and where is it going?

  Uranium waste is sent to Russia from Germany by the British-German-Dutch uranium enrichment company Urenco, located in Gronau.
  
  There are 4 enterprises in Russia where «tails» are stored. The sites in Novouralsk, Angarsk, Seversk, and Zelenogorsk. «Tailings» come to JSC Urals Electrochemical Combine in Novouralsk (Sverdlovsk Region). They are running out of storage space.
  

• Reprocessing of uranium waste

  The «tails» stored in the Russian Federation are gradually reprocessed into less toxic forms - uranium tetrafluoride and uranium oxide, but the current capacity of the corresponding facilities is small - only about 12 tons per year. It would take almost 100,000 years to process the existing Russian «tails» at this rate.