The US Department of Energy (DoE) has awarded a $1.8-million grant to Laramide Resources subsidiary NuFuels to further a study on in-situ recovery (ISR) groundwater restoration technology.

The research is a joint project with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

“We believe this project will result in cutting-edge groundwater restoration technology that will enhance post-ISR groundwater quality and be useful for groundwater restoration programmes at other uranium-related legacy sites,” says Laramide and NuFuels president Marc Henderson.

The project is designed to develop groundwater restoration technology in the laboratory that will address both the modern groundwater restoration standards in New Mexico, and have a significant impact on reducing the full cycle cost related to ISR by reducing the amount of water used during the groundwater restoration process through in-situ restoration techniques.

The project's objective is to demonstrate the capacity to restore groundwater geochemical conditions to background levels at uranium recovery operations through the application of restoration strategies to include groundwater sweeping, active treatment through reverse osmosis and recirculation operations, amendment injections, and natural and enhanced attenuation processes.

The primary focus will be ISR restoration technologies that would result in reduced groundwater consumption during groundwater restoration activities following uranium ISR operations, though the results are likely to aid in the reduction of water usage at other uranium recovery related groundwater restoration projects such as legacy tailings operations. This study will be performed using uranium-rich core collected from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed ISR uranium properties owned by NuFuels in New Mexico.

Past operators' ISR facilities have performed laboratory studies demonstrating the capacity to restore groundwater concentrations of uranium to acceptable regulatory levels. Since that time, however, New Mexico state regulations have changed, and groundwater uranium concentrations are currently required to be materially lower. The project to be undertaken by NuFuels and LANL will largely repeat these previous laboratory demonstrations with the freshly collected core materials and modern chemical amendments, to address the current uranium groundwater restoration standard, thereby complying with State of New Mexico permitting requirements.

Expenses for the DoE grant for the project will be shared at a ratio of about 40% by NuFuels, to pay for the costs of obtaining the core material and laboratory equipment and supplies, and 60% by DoE, to provide the LANL expertise and facilities, and fund research staff.