Cameco Teams up for Biostimulation

University of Wyoming Has Teamed up with Cameco to Study a Process Called Biostimulation

Cameco's Smith Ranch-Highland uranium mine, in northern Converse County is the largest in the nation. Utilizing a grant program initiated by the Wyoming Legislature, the University of Wyoming has teamed up with Cameco to study a process called biostimulation that will hopefully increase the effectiveness of land reclamation efforts.

If the process proves effective, it will use less water, reduce the amount of uranium deposited back into the soil, reduce heavy metals in the groundwater at a faster rate and cost significantly less along the way.

Biostimulaiton is the process by which bacteria native to the underground uranium deposits are fed proteins. Basically, biostimulation is stimulating an already active biological agent for an intended purpose.

The particular protein being tested right now, Tryptone, is broken down in water and injected into the soil where the non-potable water and uranium deposits were originally collected between 400 and 800 feet below ground level.

Water being collected and used at the mine is not drinking water, as it already has high levels of heavy metals like uranium and selenium. But the mine must monitor water around the deposit to make sure uranium isn't leaking out.

As the proteins are digested by the bacteria, the organisms increase in number. These bacteria also eat heavy metals released by the mining process. As they grow, they eat more and more of the uranium, digesting it and converting it into the original crystalline form, which won't shift with the groundwater.

The groundwater at the Smith Ranch-Highland site moves at a slow rate, about 5 feet per year.

While uranium mines already run water through a reverse osmosis process to clean it before putting it back in the ground, getting water as close to its original state or better is ideal.

John Willford, a microbiologist and professor at UW, leads the biostimulation experiment. He says the lab results have successfully grown the bacteria, but whether or not it will work in the field is yet to be determined. The field trial will run for at least a year.

Source: Glenrock Independent

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