LIMOUSIN

MONTMASSACROT -- shut down

Purpose: production of uranium
Type: surface mine and tailings deposit
Location: Bessines-sur-Gartempe (Haute-Vienne)
Operator: Cogéma
Raw materials: uranium ore, tailings
Nominal capacity/actual production: ??

SOLID WASTES

The former mine stocks 737,000 t of tailings from the Simo plant, containing 69 t of uranium. The activity of the radium 226 is 19 TBq; that of the thorium 230 is also 19 TBq. The site is classed as an ICPE, although, according to the regulations, it should be an INB. Simo discharged its tailings into the mine from the end of 1986 to 1990 [InfoU iii-iv.92].

The material is in the form of fine particles that may cause the land to slide.

At the entry to the descent and around the basins for the retention of water, the external exposure is two to four times the natural level and, beside the access route, two times higher that the natural level, according to the Crii-Rad.

LIQUID EFFLUENTS

The origins of the deep water are very diverse and the pathways often cannot be determined. Therefore, the few piezometers in place are not sufficient to indicate whether the underground water is polluted [Crii-Rad 94b].

REMEDIATION

Cogéma addressed a dossier to the Drire in June 1993. The dossier provided for the reinforcement of the dike and the covering of the residues by waste rock (from the mine of Puy-Teigneux already dispersed on the site and from Bellezane) and by 20 cm of vegetable earth. Following an analysis by IPSN and two hydrogeologists, the prefect, 10 February 1995, asked Cogéma to complete the dossier [InfoU i-ii.96]. According to Andra, the site has now been remediated, and water from the site is channeled to the Bellezane treatment station for tailings [Andra 99]. 

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