The first standards for uranium recovery were issued by the EPA in 1983 when
conventional mining and milling were the predominant methods of uranium extraction, and were last amended in 1995. Since the early 1990s, ISR has mostly replaced conventional milling. This proposed rule would strengthen the existing regulations for uranium recovery by adopting new standards addressing groundwater hazards specific to ISR facilities. As with the original proposal, the primary focus of this proposal is groundwater protection, restoration and long-term stability.
The most significant changes from the original proposal include: removing the default 30-year long-term monitoring provision and shifting to a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C corrective action framework as a model rather than a RCRA Subtitle C landfill framework, adding specific criteria and procedures for approving termination of longterm stability monitoring; deleting gross alpha particle activity from proposed Table 1 to subpart.F of 40 CFR part 192, and allowing more flexibility for the NRC or Agreement States to determine on a site-specific basis the constituents for which concentration based standards are set.
The EPA has also sought to clarify how these standards under UMTRCA complement, and do not overlap with, the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
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