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<br />The well field piping will be supported on pipe racks to protect the insulated pipe from <br />being damaged by contact with the ground. The pipe racks will be individual H- <br />shaped steel structures supported on concrete piers placed at intervals along the well <br />field piping corridors. The main header pipe racks will be 8.5 feet wide, with the top a <br />minimum of 3 feet above ground, and will be spaced at 30-foot intervals along the main <br />header piping corridor. The lateral and individual well pipe racks will be 6.5 feet wide <br />and a minimum of 2.5 feet tall and will be spaced at 30-foot and 20-foot intervals along <br />the lateral and individual well piping corridors, respectively. Design drawing of the <br />well field pipe racks are given in Figure L-1. Based on the pipe rack spacings specified, <br />there would be about 285 main header pipe rack supports, 215 lateral piping pipe rack <br />supports, and 195 individual well piping pipe rack supports in the 0-5 year mining <br />panels. Corresponding numbers of pipe rack supports for the subsequent mining <br />panels are given in Table L-2. Again, based on the slightly larger mining panel and <br />correspondingly longer piping, the greatest amount of pipe rack removal and disposal <br />would be necessary at the end of mining of the 5-10 year mining panel. <br />A skid-mounted pumping station will be constructed in the well field to provide <br />auxiliary pumping capability from some of the solution mining panels. The pumping <br />station would include solution pumps and a control panel within an approximately 48- <br />foot-long by 16-foot-wide metal building. Two associated transformers would reduce <br />voltage from the 15-kV well field electrical distribution lines to power the solution <br />pumps. The total surface area occupied by the pumping station and transformers <br />would be about 1,200 square feet and is included in the total mining panel disturbance <br />areas indicated in Table L-1. <br />Construction of the well field piping systems will require that vegetation be cleared <br />from the piping corridors. A cleared corridor of 10 feet is estimated for construction of <br />the main header and lateral piping lines. A cleared corridor of 8 feet is estimated for <br />construction of the individual well piping lines. The estimated areas of disturbance <br />associated with piping systems in the respective mining panels are included in the total <br />disturbance areas indicated in Table L-1. <br />Well Pluggine and Abandoning The number of wells that may need to be <br />reclaimed (i.e., plugged and abandoned) can be summarized as follows. Initially, up to <br />26 wells would be drilled during the project start-up period. After the initial operating <br />period (which is expected to last approximately 18 to 24 months), approximately 15 <br />wells would be operated concurrently. Although the exact number of wells drilled per <br />year may vary, it is assumed that 15 solution mining wells per year will be drilled <br />throughout the life of the mine. <br />The number of wells requiring plugging and abandoning is shown in Table L-3. It is <br />assumed that all of the wells in a given mine panel will remain open throughout the 5- <br />year life of the panel. The pattern for years 6 through 10 shown in Table L-3 would <br />repeat itself at 5-year intervals so that the maximum number of wells requiring <br />plugging and abandoning at any give time thereafter would be 75 wells. <br />It should be noted that, for the purpose of determining well reclamation costs, the total <br />depth of a solution mining well is assumed to be approximately 2,200 feet. <br />L-4 <br />