ION EXCHANGE The surface plant for an ISR operation is essentially a large water softener, very similar to those

used in homes. "Hard water" in the home is caused by high levels of the chemical ions of calcium and magnesium. A home water softener contains plastic "resin" beads held in a tank (itself generally plastic or fiberglass). As water flows through the tank and across these resin beads, the chemical ions of calcium and magnesium are "exchanged" out of the water and onto the resin. The other half of the "exchange" is sodium ions transferring off the resin and into the water. This is called "softening" of water, and the term "ion exchange" is used for this general process. Highly concentrated salt water (or brine) will cause this ion exchange to reverse direction. During the "regeneration" cycle of the home water softener, a highly concentrated salt (NaCl) solution is pumped over the resin, causing the calcium and magnesium to "exchange" off the resin and into the salt water (opposite of what it did in the "softening" process), while sodium transfers back onto the resin, thus "regenerating" the resin and preparing it again for "softening" of water. The same type of "ion exchange" will transfer uranium out of water and onto resin beads. An ISR facility is composed mostly of large tanks that hold "resin" and "regenerating" water, and pumps to move the water. A home water softener contains "cation" resin because it involves the ion exchange of the positively charged ions (cations): calcium, magnesium, and sodium. Since uranium in solution is a negatively charged ion (called anion), the tanks at a recovery plant hold "anion" resin beads. Other than this, the ion exchange process for uranium ISR is exactly the same as for a home water softener. The water pumped from the ground contains uranium in solution, passes over the anion resin, and the uranium transfers onto the plastic resin beads. At the same time, chloride or bicarbonate (both negative ions) transfers off the resin and into the water. The ion exchange is then complete, and the groundwater has very little uranium left in it. Once the water leaves the resin tank, it is re-fortified with oxygen and re-injected into the ground. The process is repeated again and again, until the uranium level drops too low to continue the cycle.