[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 40, Volume 27]
[Revised as ofJuly 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 40CFR440.34]

[Page 418-419]
 
                   TITLE 40--PROTECTION OF ENVIRONMENT
 
         CHAPTER I--ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (CONTINUED)
 
PART 440--ORE MINING AND DRESSING POINT SOURCE CATEGORY--Table of Contents
 
        Subpart C--Uranium, Radium and Vanadium Ores Subcategory
 
Sec. 440.34  New source performance standards (NSPS).

    Except as provided in subpart L of this part any new source subject 
to this subpart must achieve the following NSPS representing the degree 
of effluent reduction attainable by the application of the best 
available demonstrated technology (BADT):
    (a) The concentration of pollutants discharged in mine drainage from 
mines, either open-pit or underground, that produce uranium ore, 
excluding mines using in situ leach methods, shall not exceed:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 Effluent limitations
                                             ---------------------------
                                                             Average of
           Effluent characteristic                          daily values
                                               Maximum for     for 30
                                                any 1 day    consecutive
                                                                days
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 Milligrams per liter
                                             ---------------
COD.........................................         200           100
Zn..........................................           1.0           0.5
Ra \1\ 226 (dissolved)......................          10.0           3.0
Ra \1\ 226 (total)..........................          30.0          10.0
U...........................................           4.0           2.0
pH..........................................       (\2\)         (\2\)
TSS.........................................          30.0          20.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Values in picocuries per liter (pCi/l).
\2\ Within the range 6.0 to 9.0.

    (b)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, there 
shall be no discharge of process wastewater to navigable waters from 
mills using the

[[Page 419]]

acid leach, alkaline leach or combined acid and alkaline leach process 
for the extraction of uranium or from mines and mills using in situ 
leach methods. The Agency recognizes that the elimination of the 
discharge of pollutants to navigable waters may result in an increase in 
discharges of some pollutants to other media. The Agency has considered 
these impacts and has addressed them in the preamble published on 
December 3, 1982.
    (2) In the event that the annual precipitation falling on the 
treatment facility and the drainage area contributing surface runoff to 
the treatment facility exceeds the annual evaporation, a volume of water 
equivalent to the difference between annual precipitation falling on the 
treatment facility and the drainage area contributing surface runoff to 
the treatment facility and annual evaporation may be discharged subject 
to the limitations set forth in paragraph (a) of this section.