Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Uranium isn't a gold mine
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Hildred Shelton
Shelton is a farmer and lifelong resident of Pittsylvania County.
Virginia Uranium Inc. has requested the General Assembly to commission a study to determine the safety of mining a possible $10 billion uranium deposit in Pittsylvania County.
According to articles appearing in various Virginia newspapers, the executives of Virginia Uranium went to Canada to study safe uranium mining techniques. Canada produces one-third of the output of uranium mined worldwide.
In the discussion of "safe uranium mining" there is an official Canadian source that can be consulted. This is the Canadian Handbook of Health Impact Assessment-Volume 4, published by Health Canada, the government agency that oversees health care for Canadian citizens. Chapter 5, Section 4, covers the impacts of uranium mining as biophysical and socioeconomic.
The biophysical impacts "include the impact of radionuclides and heavy metals on the food chain by their release into the atmosphere, water or ground; and consequential effects on fish, wildlife, vegetation and country foods and, ultimately, on humans." (And $5 million is being spent on a center to promote agriculture in Pittsylvania County.)
"Surface water and ground water provide a primary pathway by which radioactivity and toxic heavy metal contaminants, such as lead, arsenic, nickel and cadmium, can be leached under certain conditions, particularly from tailings. There is a serious possibility that the food chain can be contaminated unless appropriate mitigation is instituted. Fish, wildlife, vegetation, country foods and drinking water are all at risk should spills or leakage occur. The need to manage the water from waste management areas is important, particularly if there are drinking water sources in the vicinity."
The section on mining states: "Whether or not mining is conducted in open pits or underground, there are environmental health hazards and impacts to workers and the general public that need to be considered. These include radiation hazards from radon gas, radium, thorium and non-radioactive contamination from dust and heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and nickel."
In the same section discussing milling, this statement on impact sources is given: "External gamma radiation, tailings slurry and wastewater are the main areas of health concern at this stage."
Also stated was this fact: "Significant excesses of lung cancers have been noted for uranium miners, and the risk of lung cancer mortality has been shown to be highly related to cumulative radon daughter exposures."
The socioeconomic impacts "include effects on public health and on the social fabric, Aboriginal/other cultures, and lifestyles; reduced business opportunities; boom-and-bust cycles and unemployment; and general stress factors associated with the dangers, perceived or real, from radioactivity."
Chairman Coy Harville of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee on Jan. 28 to the great economic blessing mining would be for Pittsylvania County, but it appears Virginia Uranium's version, which he was touting, does not accord with Canadian reality.
The section on socioeconomic impacts ends with a paragraph that discusses a subject not yet mentioned in relation to mining in Pittsylvania County: "Concerns exist about the availability of financial resources to pay for decommissioning, radiation monitoring and follow-up after the mining and milling projects have been completed, and it is felt that up-front financial guarantees are needed."
That is "safe" uranium mining? if you want to see the handbook look it up at tinyurl.com/22sdo2.
