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Water Water management at mines The volume of water left after mining and milling is too large to be stored indefinitely on site and is discharged back to the environment through surface water courses. All discharges are treated and routinely monitored to ensure that they meet regulated limits on chemical concentrations, ensuring the impacts on the environment are minimal. Runoff from mine stockpiles is collected in secure collection ponds and regularly sampled and monitored to detect changes in water quality. Water management at generating plants Like all thermal power stations, nuclear power plants use a large quantity of water for steam condensation. This water can be drawn from a large body of water such as the ocean or a large lake. Otherwise, the plant uses cooling towers. Water is drawn into the turbo-generator to condense the steam from the turbine and then is returned slightly warmed to the lake, ocean or cooling tower. Before water is discharged back to rivers and lakes, it must meet regulatory standards for temperature that protect fish and aquatic life. If the water from the plant is so warm that it may harm marine life, it is mixed with water in a cooling pond or pumped through a cooling tower before it is returned to its source. Water used for steam condensation is kept separate from the water systems within the nuclear reactor that are used to cool the reactor and transport heat from the reactor to the boilers to make steam. Because the coolant for the nuclear reactor may become slightly radioactive over time, it is kept entirely enclosed within the nuclear plant with no contact to the outside environment. For each kilowatt-hour they produce, nuclear power plants require about 205 litres of water.
 
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Uranium mining companies install ground water monitoring wells to check water quality near rock piles.
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