The Uranium Mine Remediation Exchange Group, (UMREG) is a network of peers working in the remediation of uranium mining and ore processing facilities that has existed for nearly 20 years.

The group was set up originally as a forum for discussion between the professional staff of the Uranium Mill Tailings Remediation Project (UMTRA) and their counterparts in the Wismut GmbH in Germany who were remediating the former East German uranium mining and milling legacy sites.

Over the years the group expanded as professionals working on similar problems in Australia, Canada, France, Africa, Russia and Central Asia became involved.

The group meetings are realized by introduction of UMREG sessions into the framework of larger meetings and conferences. These have included the biennial series of ICEM meetings; the series of meetings known as the Uranium Mining and Hydrogeology conferences (UMH) held triennially in Freiberg, Germany; and the International Acid Drainage conference in Vancouver and the Wismut Seminar at Schlema, Germany in 2000.

This year, the organisers of ICEM have invited the organisers of UMREG to hold a meeting within the umbrella of the ICEM ’07 meeting to be held in Bruges, Belgium in September 2007. This is to ensure that the issue of uranium mining remediation is given full and proper recognition within the overall scope of the ICEM meeting.

The UMREG meeting is supported by a crosscutting effort of the IAEA’s Waste Technology and Waste Safety Sections. The UMREG liaison is through Waste Safety Section in close cooperation and constant liaison with the Waste Technology Section."

For more than a decade UMREG has provided a non-commercial platform for exchange of experience on scientific, technical, management, regulatory and stakeholder issues in Uranium mining. Presently the aim is to promote the:

From the time of the first meeting until now the nature and style of remediation projects have progressed significantly. It is important to sum up successes, discuss the lessons learned and, most importantly, identify what is of importance for the future and what are the upcoming (and persisting) issues in such a way to that the integration of reclamation aspects into the design and operation from the early stages of development can take place.

Considering the lessons learned, the intention is that the meeting would compare the wide remediation experience collected at a great variety of sites over a broad geographic. At that point the meeting will attempt to identify which rules are universally applicable, which are not and why. This information will assist with the remediation of the legacy sites as well as providing guidance for new mines.

2.OBJECTIVE

In view of the renaissance of Uranium mining and production and of the still unresolved problems of uranium mining and milling legacy in a number of countries it is of paramount importance for the UMREG Members to discuss how best to take advantage of the experience (including successes, failures and mistakes) gained within mature and completed remediation projects.

Given the recent upsurge in uranium resources development activities in conjunction with the renaissance of the nuclear power industry, the UMREG Meeting provides an important contribution both to continued management of legacy situations and most importantly to safe development of new resources. The objective of this meeting is to provide a networking forum and unrivalled opportunity for the transfer of knowledge and experience from the senior members of the industry to the newly developing producers and their staff responsible for the development of uranium resources, thus helping them to include post mining and processing issues already at the stages of resources development and production, thus helping the seamless closures of the uranium production cycle.

3. AUDIENCE

The UMREG participants are representatives of governmental organizations in charge of financing and management of environmental remediation programs, state authorities and agencies responsible for regulating remediation processes, uranium producers, remediation companies and organizations, their consultants and international organizations and research institutions .

4. PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

A tentative program is being prepared and will be available soon

5. CONTRIBUTED PAPERS

The meeting will comprise both oral and poster presentations and discussion sessions .

6.PARTICIPATION

All persons wishing to participate in the meeting are requested to register in advance online. Details on the logistics of the conference will be sent to all designated participants approximately two to three months before the meeting. This information will also be posted on the conference web site .

7.PAPERS AND CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

It is expected that selected papers of this meeting will be published along with selected papers from the previous meetings as IAEA TECDOC (Monograph), following peer review of the submitted papers. Specifications for the layout and electronic format of the full manuscripts will be sent to all main authors of accepted papers and posters. The deadline for submission of full manuscripts is 31 August 2007.

Concerning your participation and presentation, please contact UMREG by email

UMREG @ iaea.org

at your earliest convenience, preferably with an abstract of no more than 300 words. The proceedings of the meeting will become part of the UMREG Monograph to be subsequently issued by IAEA and OECD/NEA.

8. EXPENDITURES/GRANTS

UMREG participants will be asked to register through the ICEM Secretariat the specially agreed day rate .

9. WORKING LANGUAGE

The working language of the meeting will be English. All communications, synopses, and papers must therefore be sent to the UMREG in English.

10. ACCOMMODATION

For details concerning hotel reservation please refer to the ICEM Hope Page www.icemconf.com/contact.asp

11. VISA

If you need a visa to enter Belgium, please submit the necessary applications to the nearest diplomatic or consular representative of Belgium as early as possible (please note that this procedure may take up to several weeks).

12. WEB SITE AND EMAIL ADDRESS:

Please visit the IAEA conference web site regularly for any new information regarding this conference under:

http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Meetings/Announcements.asp?ConfID=1035

The email address for paper submission is umreg@iaea.org

13.CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT

Scientific Secretariat of the Conference:

Mr P Waggitt
Waste Safety Section

and

Mr. Horst Monken-Fernandez
Waste Technology Section
International Atomic Energy Agency
Wagramerstrasse 5
A-1400, Vienna AUSTRIA

Email:

P.Waggitt@iaea.org OR H.Monken-Fernandez@iaea.org

Telephone No.: (+43 1) 2600 22602 or (+43 1) 2600 24673

Telefax No.: (+43 1) 2600 7 22602

Email Address for Paper submission: umreg@iaea.org