Laserfiche WebLink
Decommissioning Plan Schwartzwalder Mine <br /> <br /> <br />RML CO-369-06 <br />Cotter Corporation (N.S.L.) 4 March 2017 <br />1.3 Previous Decommissioning History <br />1.3.1 Ore Transfer Pad Decommissioning <br />The concrete pad, truck scale, and several thousand tons of soil were removed from the OTP <br />facility and transferred to either the Mine site for storage or to the Mill for disposal. <br />Decommissioning of the Ore Transfer Pad was completed in 1998. The decommissioning <br />activities were conducted in accordance with Cotter Radiological Health and Safety Procedure 3- <br />12 Ore Transfer Pad Final Reclamation Plan, May 1995. The decommissioning consisted of a <br />characterization survey, removal of the concrete pad and soils, and verification of remediation by <br />soil sampling. The Radiation Management Unit, Hazardous Materials and Waste Management <br />Division of the CDPHE, completed a verification gamma survey and soil sampling in August of <br />1998, releasing the site for unrestricted use on December 11, 1998 (CDPHE, 1998). <br /> <br />1.3.2 Ore Crusher-Sorter and Old Ponds Decommissioning <br />Decommissioning of the Ore Sorter-Crusher Facility began in 1999. The decommissioning <br />activities were conducted in accordance with Cotter Radiological Health and Safety Procedure 3- <br />13 Ore Sorter-Crusher Facility Decommissioning Plan Phase I, 11 March 1999 (Cotter, 1999). <br />The primary-process building and most of the exterior structures and equipment were <br />decommissioned in 1999. Broken concrete from the building and exterior structure demolition <br />were hauled to the underground disposal site. The cleanup of the old mine drainage settling <br />ponds located under and adjacent to the Ore Sorter was started in October of 1999 and was <br />completed in 2001. Mine-run uranium ore storage areas and ore sorter storage areas located west <br />and east, respectively, of the old Ore Sorter building location were also cleaned up by the end of <br />2001. <br /> <br />The CDPHE’s Radiation Management Unit performed a verification gamma survey on July 2, <br />2001 (CDPHE, 2001a). Cotter completed confirmatory soil sampling in the summer/fall of 2001 <br />(Table 1), and excavated areas were then backfilled with clean fill material and re-contoured by <br />the beginning of 2002 (Cotter, 2003). Decommissioning of the Ore Crusher-Sorter area (RML <br />#1) was considered complete at this point with the exception of seeding (Cotter, 2003), which <br />apparently occurred in the spring of 2002. A final survey report for this area was submitted to <br />the CDPHE in 2007 (Cotter, 2007), and the Department concurred that levels appear consistent <br />with local background (CDPHE, 2007).