The remediation of groundwater environment in the post-mining area at in-situ leaching uranium mines has aroused widespread public concern. The long-term change of groundwater U concentration in the post-mining area is still unclear. Field investigation and numerical simulation methods were comprehensively used in this study, and a typical post-mining area of a “CO2+O2” in-situ leaching uranium mine in northern China was taken as the research object. On the basis of identifying the distribution characteristics of groundwater U in the post-mining area, the natural attenuation trend of U in groundwater at different times was quantitatively predicted, and the long-term change of U concentration was quantified. The results show that the concentration of U in the groundwater in the post-mining area is 0.273~5.24 mg/L, and the sampling points with U concentration lower than 2.5 mg/L accounted for 64%. The simulation results show that in the post-mining stage, the groundwater flow direction tend to the regional groundwater flow direction. When the natural attenuation process of U is not considered, U in groundwater migrate to 167 m downstream after 100 years of final mining, and the predicted migration distance is conservative. When the natural attenuation of U is considered, the migration distance of U is only 42 m after 100 years of final mining. The concentration of U in the groundwater in the mining area is reduced from the initial 2.5 mg/L to below 1.0 mg/L. Natural attenuation can reduce the migration distance and the concentration of groundwater U in the post-mining area, and the monitored natural attenuation (MNA) technology can be used as an alternative scheme for groundwater remediation at in-situ leaching uranium mines in the future.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |