Olympic Dam: BHP thinking big about the future.

Olympic Dam is one of the world's most significant polymetallic orebodies producing copper, uranium, gold, and silver in remote South Australia. The polymetallic deposit is located 520 km north-northwest of Adelaide, South Australia and has an inferred resource of 2660 Mt at 1.2% Cu, 1.4 kg t-1 U3Os, and 0.5 g t-1 Au. Ore is mined from the underground operation at a rate of approximately 10 mt year-1, and is processed on site through a concentrator and hydrometallurgical facility, smelter, and electrolytic refinery. Olympic Dam is one of the only sites in the world to claim the 'mine to market' title. Protection of the workforce and the environment has been a primary focus for the operations through its 30+ year life and will continue to be into the future. Broken Hill Propriety Company (BHP) believes that its most important asset is its people. With such a large orebody and a very long potential mine life, it is important to think strategically about the future to ensure the viability of the operation. This requires development of mine and surface processing facilities in a staged manner. Importantly, it also involves the development of people. This presentation provides an overview of BHP's work at Olympic Dam and outlines development plans for Olympic Dam into the future.© 2020 ICRP. Published by SAGE.

[Aerogenic risk factors and diagnosis of bauxite pneumoconiosis].

The research purpose is an estimation of influence of the bauxite dust on the state of the bronchopulmonary system of workers. It has been indicated that exposure of the poor fibrogenic dust while the process of the bauxite ore extraction, results in development of pnevmokoniosis characterized by substantial ventilatory and haemodynamic disorders limiting the workability of patients.

Evaluation of sediment quality guidelines derived using the screening-level concentration approach for application at uranium operations in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Sediment quality guidelines (SQGs) can be derived using different approaches and are commonly used in environmental management, reclamation, and risk assessment. The screening-level concentration (SLC) approach has been used in Ontario, Canada, to derive lowest effect levels (LELs) and severe effect levels for use as SQGs. This approach was adopted by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to set guidelines for metals (As, Cr, Cu, Pb, Mo, Ni, Se, U, and V) and radionuclides (Ra-226, Pb-210, and Po-210) in sediment at northern Saskatchewan uranium mining and milling operations. The SLC approach is based on total metal and radionuclide concentrations in sediment, and corresponding benthic community composition data for a specific sampling site. In this study, sediment chemistry (total metals and radionuclides) and benthic community data from northern Saskatchewan uranium operations were compiled and examined. Results indicate that the CNSC-derived SQGs had limited relationships to observed effects, or lack thereof, on benthic invertebrate communities near uranium operations in Saskatchewan. The LELs were found to correctly align with effects at 95% of the sites that had effects, on a general basis, but on an element-specific basis many of the elements had concentrations at effect sites below their LELs. Furthermore, concentrations of the evaluated elements exceeded at least one LEL at 60% of the no-effect sites. The high number of exceedences of LELs at reference and no-effect sites (false-positives) calls to question the appropriateness of the CNSC-derived SQGs. It is suggested that alternatives to the SLC approach be explored.

[Improvement of the organization of oncological aid under conditions of specific technogenic load on the population].

Social and economic disbenifits due to mortality from malignant neoplasms were estimated taking into account the losses of man-years of work, mean life expectancy for the sick, losses from temporary disablement and invalidization caused by malignancies, and the cost of oncological aid. The study was based at an area in Uzbekistan subjected to pollution by industrial wastes from an uranium-extracting enterprise. A special purpose-oriented program has been elaborated for the correction of oncological aid currently provided to the workers of the Navoi mining and metallurgical works and the local population. Its implementation resulted in a 13% reduction of standardized mortality from malignant neoplasm in 2004 compared with 1999 and another 24% in 2009. The disbenefit prevented by the reduction of mortality at active ages is estimated at 60,6 mln rubles.

WNA's worldwide overview on front-end nuclear fuel cycle growth and health, safety and environmental issues.

This paper presents the WNA's worldwide nuclear industry overview on the anticipated growth of the front-end nuclear fuel cycle from uranium mining to conversion and enrichment, and on the related key health, safety, and environmental (HSE) issues and challenges. It also puts an emphasis on uranium mining in new producing countries with insufficiently developed regulatory regimes that pose greater HSE concerns. It introduces the new WNA policy on uranium mining: Sustaining Global Best Practices in Uranium Mining and Processing-Principles for Managing Radiation, Health and Safety and the Environment, which is an outgrowth of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) cooperation project that closely involved industry and governmental experts in uranium mining from around the world.

Using the Framework for Health Promotion Action to address staff perceptions of occupational health and safety at a fly-in/fly-out mine in north-west Queensland.

ISSUE ADDRESSED: An exploratory descriptive study was undertaken to identify staff perceptions of the types and sources of occupational health and safety hazards at a remote fly-in-fly-out minerals extraction and processing plant in northwest Queensland. METHODS: Ongoing focus groups with all sectors of the operation were conducted concurrently with quantitative research studies from 2001 to 2005. Action research processes were used with management and staff to develop responses to identified issues. RESULTS: Staff identified and generated solutions to the core themes of: health and safety policies and procedures; chemical exposures; hydration and fatigue. The Framework for Health Promotion Action was applied to ensure a comprehensive and holistic response to identified issues. CONCLUSIONS: Participatory processes using an action research framework enabled a deep understanding of staff perceptions of occupational health and safety hazards in this setting. The Framework for Health Promotion provided a relevant and useful tool to engage with staff and develop solutions to perceived occupational health and safety issues in the workplace.

Application of correspondence analysis in the assessment of mine tailings dam breakage risk in the Mediterranean region.

A new statistical approach for preliminary risk evaluation of breakage in tailings dam is presented and illustrated by a case study regarding the Mediterranean region. The objective of the proposed method is to establish an empirical scale of risk, from which guidelines for prioritizing the collection of further specific information can be derived. The method relies on a historical database containing, in essence, two sets of qualitative data: the first set concerns the variables that are observable before the disaster (e.g., type and size of the dam, its location, and state of activity), and the second refers to the consequences of the disaster (e.g., failure type, sludge characteristics, fatalities categorization, and downstream range of damage). Based on a modified form of correspondence analysis, where the second set of attributes are projected as "supplementary variables" onto the axes provided by the eigenvalue decomposition of the matrix referring to the first set, a "qualitative regression" is performed, relating the variables to be predicted (contained in the second set) with the "predictors" (the observable variables). On the grounds of the previously derived relationship, the risk of breakage in a new case can be evaluated, given observable variables. The method was applied in a case study regarding a set of 13 test sites where the ranking of risk obtained was validated by expert knowledge. Once validated, the procedure was included in the final output of the e-EcoRisk UE project (A Regional Enterprise Network Decision-Support System for Environmental Risk and Disaster Management of Large-Scale Industrial Spills), allowing for a dynamic historical database updating and providing a prompt rough risk evaluation for a new case. The aim of this section of the global project is to provide a quantified context where failure cases occurred in the past for supporting analogue reasoning in preventing similar situations.

Use of airborne gamma-ray spectrometry for environmental assessment of the rehabilitated nabarlek uranium mine, Australia.

This article describes an airborne gamma survey of a 7 x 5 km region around the rehabilitated Nabarlek uranium mine in northern Australia. An unusually tight line spacing (100 m) and low aircraft height (50 m) were used, enabling the survey to distinguish man-made structures such as ponds and accommodation areas, as well as creek lines. Positive correlations between airborne data and ground-based readings enabled an estimation of the average absorbed dose rate arising from terrestrial gamma radiation over large areas of the site to be derived. For the fenced minesite area this estimate was 0.31 micro Gy hr(- 1). The airborne survey data were found to be invaluable in helping to plan further ground-level investigations and showed promise as an assessment tool for rehabilitated minesites.

Bioaccumulation of trace elements in a wild grass three years after the Aznalcóllar mine spill (South Spain).

In this paper, we surveyed the concentration of nine trace elements (As, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Tl and Zn) in bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon) 3 years after the mine spill in Aznalcóllar (south Spain). The results were compared with those that had been obtained for the same species in a previous study, 18 months after the accident. Three types of soil condition were determined: i) unaffected soils (UN, control); ii) cleaned up and amended soils (A, amended); and (iii) non-amended soils, inaccessible to the clean-up and remediation operations (NA, non-amended). The trace element concentrations in the plants were lower than those reported in the first sampling for both washed (plant tissues) and unwashed plants (as consumed by herbivores). Apart from Cd, trace elements concentrations (plant tissues) were similar in the A and the UN soils. In the NA soils, the Cd, Fe, Mn, Zn and Pb levels in unwashed plants were excessive for animal consumption. This wild grass seems to be suitable as a soil stabilizer for spill affected soils and as a biomonitor for soil pollution by some trace elements (As, Cu and Zn); however, its potential for phytoextraction is negligible.

Geographic variability in radon exhalation at a rehabilitated uranium mine in the Northern Territory, Australia.

In this study, dry season radon flux densities and radon fluxes have been determined at the rehabilitated Nabarlek uranium mine in northern Australia using conventional charcoal canisters. Environmental background levels amounted to 31+/- 15 milli Becquerel per m(2) per second (mBq m(-2) s(-1)). Radon flux densities within the fenced rehabilitated mine area showed large variations with a maximum of 6500 mBq m(-2) s(-1) at an area south of the former pit characterised by a disequilibrium between (226)Ra and (238)U. Radon flux densities were also high above the areas of the former pit (mean 971 mBq m(-2) s(-1)) and waste rock dump (mean 335 mBq m(-2) s(-1)). The lower limit for the total pre-mining radon flux from the fenced area (140 ha) was estimated to 214 kBq s(-1), post-mining radon flux amounted to 174 kBq s(-1). Our study highlights that the results of radon flux studies are vitally dependant on the selection of individual survey points. We suggest the use of a randomised system for both the selection of survey points and the placement of charcoal canisters at each survey point, to avoid over estimation of radon flux densities. It is also important to emphasize the significance of having reliable pre-mining radiological data available to assess the success of rehabilitation of a uranium mine site.

Issues in the disposal of waste containing naturally occurring radioactive material.

This article considers a number of key issues in the disposal of waste containing enhanced levels of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM), including gaseous, liquid and solid media. A brief review is made of sources of natural radioactivity in the biosphere and of anthropogenic enhancement of the concentration of NORM in the various media. The factors controlling the mobility of radionuclide activity in the environment are examined and disposal options are considered, comparison also being made with disposal of nuclear fuel cycle materials, in particular the tailings of uranium mining. Current and proposed disposal practices and policies for NORM are cited, reference being made to experiences in a number of countries.

The long-term effects of a token economy on safety performance in open-pit mining.

A token economy that used trading stamps as tokens was instituted at two dangerous open-pit mines. Employees earned stamps for working without lost-time injuries, for being in work groups in which all other workers had no lost-time injuries, for not being involved in equipment-damaging accidents, for making adopted safety suggestions, and for unusual behavior which prevented an injury or accident. They lost stamp awards if they or other workers in their group were injured, caused equipment damage, or failed to report accidents or injuries. The stamps could be exchanged for a selection of thousands of items at redemption stores. Implementation of the token economy was followed by large reductions in the number of days lost from work because of injuries, the number of lost-time injuries, and the costs of accidents and injuries. The reductions in costs far exceeded the costs of operating the token economy. All improvements were maintained over several years.

A comparison of alpha spectroscopy and gross alpha techniques for determining working level in uranium mines and houses.

We have completed an evaluation of two methods that estimate potential alpha energy of radon daughters suspended in air. One method approximates Working Level from a single measurement of gross alpha activity using a generalization of procedures originally described by Kusnetz and Rollé. The second is a linear combination of the count rates from RaA and RaC' determined from a single measurement using alpha spectroscopy as originally suggested by Schiager . These methods were compared in terms of precision and accuracy for a range of radon-daughter concentrations. Even though alpha spectroscopy provides information on two independent variables, it does not always improve the accuracy and precision of the estimate of Working Level in uranium mine atmospheres and houses.

Hazard visibility and occupational health problem solving the case of the uranium industry.

Recent evidence from European research challenges the adequacy of current U.S. exposure guidelines for underground mine radiation. This study traces the history of government regulatory agency and industry response to the hazard of excessive mine radiation in the uranium industry in Colorado some 30 years ago. Problem-solving activity by government agencies and companies is shown to coincide with how visible the health hazard to uranium miners becomes. Hazard visibility and key problem-solving variables are defined and measured. The article also discusses a number of social factors that affect societal response to evidence of an occupational health hazard. Those factor include (1) the elusiveness of the disease and its symptoms, (2) the social class of the victim, (3) the level of medical and scientific interest in its cause and cure, and (4) the economic costs of the disease.