OSLO, June 11 (Reuters) – Finland’s radiation and nuclear safety authority (STUK) has issued a positive recommendation on miner Terrafame’s application to mine uranium commercially, STUK said on Tuesday.
Its recommendation will influence the government’s decision on whether or not to grant Terrafame a permit, which would allow the company to become the first miner to extract uranium on a commercial scale in the country.
“There are no radiation safety-related obstacles for granting a permit for the uranium recovery plants of Terrafame,” STUK said in a statement.
Terrafame plans to recover uranium acquired as a by-product of other metals and to refine it into yellowcake, a semi-finished uranium oxide product used to manufacture fuel for nuclear power plants.
“Τhe ore processed by the company each year contains about 300 tonnes of uranium, half of which dissolves during bioleaching. A uranium extraction plant would be able to recover about 135 tonnes of said uranium,” said STUK.
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