Numerical modeling of the groundwater contaminant transport and hydraulic control in a decommissioned acid in-situ leaching uranium mine

QIU Wen-jie; ZHOU Gen-mao; CHU Jian-min; DING Yin-quan; YANG Yun; ZHU Ting; WU Jian-feng; WU Ji-chun

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China Environmental Science ›› 2025, Vol. 45 ›› Issue (5) : 2558-2568.

Numerical modeling of the groundwater contaminant transport and hydraulic control in a decommissioned acid in-situ leaching uranium mine

QIU Wen-jie¹, ZHOU Gen-mao², CHU Jian-min¹, DING Yin-quan², YANG Yun³, ZHU Ting², WU Jian-feng¹, WU Ji-chun¹

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Abstract

This study focuses on a decommissioned mining area of acid in-situ leaching in Xinjiang. By analyzing long-term groundwater monitoring data, a three-dimensional transient groundwater flow and contaminant solute transport model was developed to simulate the migration of contaminant species (U(Ⅵ) and SO₄^2- ) in the ore-bearing aquifer. The study aims to provide a reasonable hydraulic control strategy to ensure the groundwater environmental safety in the decommissioned mining area. The results indicate that the post-decommissioning groundwater flow field is generally consistent with the direction of the natural flow field. High concentrations of U (Ⅵ) and SO₄^2- remains extensively in the mining area and gradually migrate and diffuse downstream under the influence of groundwater dynamics. The constructed model successfully reproduces the observed groundwater level trends in the decommissioned mining area and accurately simulates the downstream migration and diffusion of U（Ⅵ） and SO₄^2- from within the mining area. This demonstrates that hydraulic control is a crucial measure for ensuring the ecological safety of the downstream groundwater environment in future conditions. Analysis of three hydraulic control pumping schemes revealed that a combined internal and external pumping strategy yielded the best control results. Using a comprehensive evaluation method to quantitatively assess each scenario, the optimal solution was determined to involve installing six pumping wells downstream and three pumping wells within the mining area, each operating at a pumping rate of 60m³/day. This approach achieves effective source reduction within the site and hydraulic containment downstream, keeping contaminant migration within a 50m range at relatively low cost. By employing the developed numerical model to compare and select hydraulic control strategies under future planning conditions, this study provides a scientific basis for decision-making on groundwater environmental safety in the mining area and offers valuable insights for the remediation of similar decommissioned in-situ leaching uranium mines.

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decommissioned mining area / hydraulic control / numerical simulation / solute transport

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QIU Wen-jie, ZHOU Gen-mao, CHU Jian-min, DING Yin-quan, YANG Yun, ZHU Ting, WU Jian-feng, WU Ji-chun. Numerical modeling of the groundwater contaminant transport and hydraulic control in a decommissioned acid in-situ leaching uranium mine[J]. China Environmental Science. 2025, 45(5): 2558-2568

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