Ecotechnological approach for consolidation of uranium tailings

Present study has been undertaken to consolidate radioactivity in uranium mill tailings at Jaduguda, Jharkhand, India.Tailings that remain after processing of ore are released in tailing ponds specially designed for the purpose. The degraded tailing ponds have been capped with 30 cm. thick soil cover. For cosolidation of radioactivity in the tailings firstly the selected plant species should not have any socioeconomic relevance in that area and secondly, uptake of uranium by selected plants has to be low to avoid its dissemination in any form in environment. Seven native plant species of forestry origin were used for experimental trials. Above ground growth has been measured for two years under ex- situ and in- situ conditions. Distribution and concentration of uranium have been evaluated in tailing pond soil as well as tailings. Uranium uptake by plants has been evaluated and discussed in this paper. The highest concentration of uranium has been found in the order as: in tailings > soil cover on tailings > roots of selected plant species > shoots of all the selected species. These results show that among seven species tried Jatropha gossypifolia and Furcraea foetida have lowest uptake (below detectable limit), while Saccharum spontaneum and Pogostemon benghalense have comparatively higher uptake among the studied species.