Leaders of the University of Wyoming's School of Energy Resources propose to launch a uranium research center.

SER director Mark Northam recently told a legislative interim committee that the program would engage existing university faculty in science, engineering and economics, fill four new positions and provide matching funds to build a lab.

After initial start-up, the research center would require about $1.2 million in annual funding.

"The eighties were not good for uranium expertise on campus," Northam told legislators in Casper on Nov. 19. "It's time for us to get back into the game."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects to review permits for 28 to 30 proposals to restart, expand or launch new in-situ leach mining operations in the near future -- most of them in Wyoming. The in-situ leaching process involves a series of wells drilled into an ore-bearing formation. An oxidizing sodium bicarbonate solution is injected into the formation to dissolve the uranium, which is brought to the surface through production wells and separated at the surface.

Currently, Wyoming is the largest United States producer of uranium, or yellow cake, which is composed of 70 to 90 percent U3O8. The only active uranium mine is the Smith-Highland Ranch mine north of Glenrock. It produces about 2 million pounds of yellow cake annually.

Northam said the uranium research center could help the industry cultivate a workforce of engineers and geochemists. More immediately, the research center could help improve uranium recovery.

Currently, leaching solutions dissolve uranium as well as a lot of other heavy metals that only require cleaning up later in the process. Northam said researchers could refine additives to specifically dissolve uranium in the production process.

Another benefit to the industry would be to develop a method of early detection for heavy metals outside the production zone to protect other groundwater resources.

Currently, there's a long lag time between gathering samples from monitoring wells and getting results back from a lab. Northam said research to develop downhole sensors of heavy metals would be a significant benefit to the industry and the public.

Northam said it's already too late in the academic cycle to recruit candidates in time to fill new positions for next fall's semester.

"Like most things in the School of Energy, I wished we'd started five years ago," said Northam. "But I don't see new mining of uranium in this state in the next three years."

Northam said he's focused on incremental development of the research center -- should it receive funding support.

Contact energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com