The National Academy of Science is planning a series of presentations on their report "Uranium Mining in Virginia" the first presentation is on Feb. 7 in Danville. We encourage you to attend.
Here are the details:
National Academy of Science "Uranium Mining in Virginia"
Tuesday, Feb. 7th at 6:30 p.m.
Institute Conference Center
150 Slayton Ave., Danville, Va.
(Near intersection of Route 29 and Route 58)
We look forward to working with you to keep the ban on uranium mining permanent. Stay engaged at www.KeepTheBan.org.
Great info about the NAS Study:
NAS uranium mining study released
The release of the National Academy of Sciences’ study on uranium mining in Virginia is sure to intensify the debate over the proposed Coles Hill mine in Pittsylvania County — the only commercially feasible project of its kind in Virginia, the report concludes
The 302-page report by the National Research Council, an arm of the NAS, makes no conclusions on the feasibility of uranium mining but offers hundreds of observations and recommendations for legislators as they consider lifting Virginia’s ban on mining, in place for almost three decades.
Among the findings:
— Uranium mining and milling pose “a wide range of potential adverse human health risks,” both for mine workers and surrounding communities, the reports states. While short- and mid-term risks can be mitigated by following industry best practices, “[t]ailings disposal sites represent potential sources of contamination for thousands of years, and the long-term risks remain poorly defined.”
— Mining in Virginia would carry an added level of risk due to extreme natural events such as flooding that “have the potential to lead to the release of contaminants if facilities are not designed and constructed to withstand such an event, or fail to perform as designed.”
— The report further notes the federal agencies that regulate uranium mining “have limited experience applying laws and regulations in positive water balance situations” of the kind found in Pittsylvania.
— Virginia “has essentially no experience regulating uranium mining and there is no existing regulatory infrastructure specifically for uranium mining,” the report notes, attributing the absence of regulation to the imposition of the moratorium in 1982.
“If the Commonwealth of Virginia rescinds the existing moratorium on uranium mining, there are steep hurdles to be surmounted before mining and/or processing could be established within a regulatory environment that is appropriately protective of the health and safety of workers, the public, and the environment,” the report states.
Today, the Roanoke River Basin Association (RRBA) commented on the recently released report on uranium mining in Virginia prepared by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel. Virginia has banned uranium mining since 1982. A foreign-backed company, Virginia Uranium, Inc. (VUI), hopes to use the findings of this report to convince the Virginia General Assembly to lift this ban during the 2012 legislative session so that VUI can commence uranium mining at a site 14 miles southeast of the Smith Mountain Lake.
The RRBA, a non-profit representing over 70 localities in Virginia and North Carolina, hoped that the NAS report would provide a definitive answer to the only question that is truly important – is it safe to mine and mill uranium in the Roanoke River basin watershed considering Virginia’s wet climate?
"For many months the public and our public servants throughout the Commonwealth, have expressed justified concern regarding the unknown risks and dangers of uranium mining. When asked about the potential to mine uranium in Virginia, most public officials, including Governor McDonnell, have stated that the venture should only be allowed if it could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be no threat to the public's health, safety, and welfare,” said Andrew Lester, the association executive director.
“Now comes the much anticipated, National Academy of Sciences study. The NAS study does not demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that uranium mining in Virginia's wet climate will pose absolutely no threat to public health and safety, we expect our Governor and public servants to sustain their commitment and keep the uranium mining ban in place," said Lester.
"In fact, the study lists potentially insurmontable challenges in addressing the technological and regulatory problems with uranium mining in Virginia. History informs us that strictly regulated and techonolgically advanced industries such as coal mining in Virginia are still prone to major disasters. The difference being, in a coal mine disaster the death and destruction is limited to that particular mine. In the case of a uranium mine the implications are possibly multi-state and eternal. Unfortuantely, the best laid plans of mice and men go awry. And in this matter, it's an ureasonable risk."
http://www.sovanow.com/index.php?/news/article/nas_uranium_mining_study_releases/
NAS Report Validates Major Environmental, Health Concerns Raised by Uranium Mining Opponents
Here are the details:
National Academy of Science "Uranium Mining in Virginia"
Tuesday, Feb. 7th at 6:30 p.m.
Institute Conference Center
150 Slayton Ave., Danville, Va.
(Near intersection of Route 29 and Route 58)
We look forward to working with you to keep the ban on uranium mining permanent. Stay engaged at www.KeepTheBan.org.
Great info about the NAS Study:
NAS uranium mining study released
SoVaNow.com / December 19, 2011
URANIUM MINING IN VIRGINIA 6.1MThe release of the National Academy of Sciences’ study on uranium mining in Virginia is sure to intensify the debate over the proposed Coles Hill mine in Pittsylvania County — the only commercially feasible project of its kind in Virginia, the report concludes
The 302-page report by the National Research Council, an arm of the NAS, makes no conclusions on the feasibility of uranium mining but offers hundreds of observations and recommendations for legislators as they consider lifting Virginia’s ban on mining, in place for almost three decades.
Among the findings:
— Uranium mining and milling pose “a wide range of potential adverse human health risks,” both for mine workers and surrounding communities, the reports states. While short- and mid-term risks can be mitigated by following industry best practices, “[t]ailings disposal sites represent potential sources of contamination for thousands of years, and the long-term risks remain poorly defined.”
— Mining in Virginia would carry an added level of risk due to extreme natural events such as flooding that “have the potential to lead to the release of contaminants if facilities are not designed and constructed to withstand such an event, or fail to perform as designed.”
— The report further notes the federal agencies that regulate uranium mining “have limited experience applying laws and regulations in positive water balance situations” of the kind found in Pittsylvania.
— Virginia “has essentially no experience regulating uranium mining and there is no existing regulatory infrastructure specifically for uranium mining,” the report notes, attributing the absence of regulation to the imposition of the moratorium in 1982.
“If the Commonwealth of Virginia rescinds the existing moratorium on uranium mining, there are steep hurdles to be surmounted before mining and/or processing could be established within a regulatory environment that is appropriately protective of the health and safety of workers, the public, and the environment,” the report states.
Roanoke River Basin Association responds to NAS report
Today, the Roanoke River Basin Association (RRBA) commented on the recently released report on uranium mining in Virginia prepared by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) panel. Virginia has banned uranium mining since 1982. A foreign-backed company, Virginia Uranium, Inc. (VUI), hopes to use the findings of this report to convince the Virginia General Assembly to lift this ban during the 2012 legislative session so that VUI can commence uranium mining at a site 14 miles southeast of the Smith Mountain Lake.
The RRBA, a non-profit representing over 70 localities in Virginia and North Carolina, hoped that the NAS report would provide a definitive answer to the only question that is truly important – is it safe to mine and mill uranium in the Roanoke River basin watershed considering Virginia’s wet climate?
"For many months the public and our public servants throughout the Commonwealth, have expressed justified concern regarding the unknown risks and dangers of uranium mining. When asked about the potential to mine uranium in Virginia, most public officials, including Governor McDonnell, have stated that the venture should only be allowed if it could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be no threat to the public's health, safety, and welfare,” said Andrew Lester, the association executive director.
“Now comes the much anticipated, National Academy of Sciences study. The NAS study does not demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that uranium mining in Virginia's wet climate will pose absolutely no threat to public health and safety, we expect our Governor and public servants to sustain their commitment and keep the uranium mining ban in place," said Lester.
"In fact, the study lists potentially insurmontable challenges in addressing the technological and regulatory problems with uranium mining in Virginia. History informs us that strictly regulated and techonolgically advanced industries such as coal mining in Virginia are still prone to major disasters. The difference being, in a coal mine disaster the death and destruction is limited to that particular mine. In the case of a uranium mine the implications are possibly multi-state and eternal. Unfortuantely, the best laid plans of mice and men go awry. And in this matter, it's an ureasonable risk."
http://www.sovanow.com/index.php?/news/article/nas_uranium_mining_study_releases/
NAS Report Validates Major Environmental, Health Concerns Raised by Uranium Mining Opponents
Cale Jaffe, Senior Attorney, 434-977-4090
In Partnership With:
Piedmont Environmental Council - Dan Holmes, 571-213-4250
Richmond, VA – The long-awaited report issued by the National Academy of Sciences today echoes numerous pitfalls with potential uranium mining, milling and waste disposal in the Commonwealth that many concerned Virginians have expressed in past months.
The 300-page report was commissioned by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission and is part of an ongoing contract between the commission and NAS that includes a public outreach and public meeting period over the next five months. The report does not make any recommendations about whether Virginia should or should not allow uranium mining, but raises significant environmental and public health concerns.
Read the National Academy of Sciences report here.
State law has maintained a nearly 30-year ban on uranium mining. Virginia Uranium, Inc., which wants to establish a uranium mine, mill, and waste disposal site in Pittsylvania County, is pushing the General Assembly to lift the ban in 2012, beginning with the drafting of regulations.
"This is a huge validation for many of the core concerns that we have been raising," said Cale Jaffe, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "As the report highlights, a uranium mine or processing facility could be subject to an uncontrolled release as a result of flood, hurricane, or earthquake. In Virginia, we've experienced all of those extreme events just this year."
"The report highlights the difficulty of storing radioactive waste for thousands of years, given Virginia's climate, geology and population density. " said Dan Holmes, Director of State Policy for the Piedmont Environmental Council. "We are now more convinced that this would be a dangerous experiment in Virginia."
Among the cautionary points found by the NAS study committee:
A HUGE RISK - ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: "Furthermore, Virginia is subject to relatively frequent storms that produce intense rainfall. It is questionable whether currently-engineered tailings repositories could be expected to prevent erosion and surface and groundwater contamination for as long as 1,000 years. Natural events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, intense rainfall, or drought could lead to the release of contaminants if facilities are not designed and constructed to withstand such events, or if they fail to perform as designed."
SEVERE CONTAMINATION RISKS EXIST: "Moreover, in a hydrologically active environment such as Virginia, with relatively frequent tropical and convective storms producing intense rainfall, it is questionable whether currently-engineered tailings repositories could be expected to prevent erosion and surface and groundwater contamination for 1,000 years. There are many reports in the literature of releases from improperly disposed tailings and their environmental effects."
A HIGH STAKES GAMBLE: "A mine or processing facility could also be subject to uncontrolled releases of radioactive materials as a result of human error or an extreme event such as a flood, fire, or earthquake."
ADVERSE IMPACTS FOR SOUTHSIDE AGRICULTURE: "Exposure could also occur from the release of contaminated water, or by leaching of radioactive materials into surface or groundwater from uranium tailings or other waste materials, where they could eventually end up in drinking water supplies or could accumulate in the food chain, eventually ending up in the meat, fish, or milk produced in the area."
A HIGH STAKES GAMBLE: "Uranium tailings present a significant potential source of radioactive contamination for thousands of years ... because monitoring of tailings management sites has only been carried out for a short period, monitoring data are insufficient to assess the long-term effectiveness of tailings management facilities designed and constructed according to modern best practices."
CURENT U.S. REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: "The decay products of uranium (e.g., 230-Th, 226 Ra) provide a constant source of radiation in uranium tailings for thousands of years, substantially outlasting the current U.S. regulations for oversight of processing facility tailings."
CURRENT U.S REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: "The United States federal government has only limited recent experience regulating conventional uranium processing and reclamation of uranium mining and processing facilities. Because almost all uranium mining and processing to date has taken place in parts of the United States that have a negative water balance (dry climates with low rainfall), federal agencies have limited experience applying laws and regulations in positive water balance (wet climates with medium to high rainfall) situations."
CURRENT U.S. REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: "The United States' federal government has only limited experience regulating conventional uranium mining, processing, and reclamation over the past two decades, with little new open pit and under-ground uranium mining activity in the United States since the late 1980s."
LONG-TERM RISK: "Tailings disposal sites represent potential sources of contamination for thousands of years, and the long-term risks remain poorly defined."
UNKNOWN RISK: "Additionally, until comprehensive site-specific risk assessments are conducted, including accident and failure analyses, the short-term risk associated with natural disasters, accidents, and spills remain poorly defined."
UNIQUE RISKS FOR VIRGINIA: "In the recent past, most uranium mining and processing has taken place in parts of the United States that have a negative water balance (dry climates with low rainfall), and consequently federal agencies have little experience developing and applying laws and regulations in locations with abundant rainfall and groundwater, and a positive water balance (wet climates with medium to high rainfall), such as Virginia."
PUBLIC PROCESS: "However, under the current regulatory structure, opportunities for meaningful public involvement are fragmented and limited."
WATER QUALITY IMPACTS: "Disturbances of the land surface associated with uranium mining in Virginia would be expected to have significant effects on both on-site and downstream surface water conditions. These disturbances affect both surface water quantity and quality."
http://www.southernenvironment.org/newsroom/press_releases/2011-12-19_nas_report/
The 300-page report was commissioned by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission and is part of an ongoing contract between the commission and NAS that includes a public outreach and public meeting period over the next five months. The report does not make any recommendations about whether Virginia should or should not allow uranium mining, but raises significant environmental and public health concerns.
Read the National Academy of Sciences report here.
State law has maintained a nearly 30-year ban on uranium mining. Virginia Uranium, Inc., which wants to establish a uranium mine, mill, and waste disposal site in Pittsylvania County, is pushing the General Assembly to lift the ban in 2012, beginning with the drafting of regulations.
"This is a huge validation for many of the core concerns that we have been raising," said Cale Jaffe, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. "As the report highlights, a uranium mine or processing facility could be subject to an uncontrolled release as a result of flood, hurricane, or earthquake. In Virginia, we've experienced all of those extreme events just this year."
"The report highlights the difficulty of storing radioactive waste for thousands of years, given Virginia's climate, geology and population density. " said Dan Holmes, Director of State Policy for the Piedmont Environmental Council. "We are now more convinced that this would be a dangerous experiment in Virginia."
Among the cautionary points found by the NAS study committee:
A HUGE RISK - ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: "Furthermore, Virginia is subject to relatively frequent storms that produce intense rainfall. It is questionable whether currently-engineered tailings repositories could be expected to prevent erosion and surface and groundwater contamination for as long as 1,000 years. Natural events such as hurricanes, earthquakes, intense rainfall, or drought could lead to the release of contaminants if facilities are not designed and constructed to withstand such events, or if they fail to perform as designed."
SEVERE CONTAMINATION RISKS EXIST: "Moreover, in a hydrologically active environment such as Virginia, with relatively frequent tropical and convective storms producing intense rainfall, it is questionable whether currently-engineered tailings repositories could be expected to prevent erosion and surface and groundwater contamination for 1,000 years. There are many reports in the literature of releases from improperly disposed tailings and their environmental effects."
A HIGH STAKES GAMBLE: "A mine or processing facility could also be subject to uncontrolled releases of radioactive materials as a result of human error or an extreme event such as a flood, fire, or earthquake."
ADVERSE IMPACTS FOR SOUTHSIDE AGRICULTURE: "Exposure could also occur from the release of contaminated water, or by leaching of radioactive materials into surface or groundwater from uranium tailings or other waste materials, where they could eventually end up in drinking water supplies or could accumulate in the food chain, eventually ending up in the meat, fish, or milk produced in the area."
A HIGH STAKES GAMBLE: "Uranium tailings present a significant potential source of radioactive contamination for thousands of years ... because monitoring of tailings management sites has only been carried out for a short period, monitoring data are insufficient to assess the long-term effectiveness of tailings management facilities designed and constructed according to modern best practices."
CURENT U.S. REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: "The decay products of uranium (e.g., 230-Th, 226 Ra) provide a constant source of radiation in uranium tailings for thousands of years, substantially outlasting the current U.S. regulations for oversight of processing facility tailings."
CURRENT U.S REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: "The United States federal government has only limited recent experience regulating conventional uranium processing and reclamation of uranium mining and processing facilities. Because almost all uranium mining and processing to date has taken place in parts of the United States that have a negative water balance (dry climates with low rainfall), federal agencies have limited experience applying laws and regulations in positive water balance (wet climates with medium to high rainfall) situations."
CURRENT U.S. REGULATIONS ARE INSUFFICIENT: "The United States' federal government has only limited experience regulating conventional uranium mining, processing, and reclamation over the past two decades, with little new open pit and under-ground uranium mining activity in the United States since the late 1980s."
LONG-TERM RISK: "Tailings disposal sites represent potential sources of contamination for thousands of years, and the long-term risks remain poorly defined."
UNKNOWN RISK: "Additionally, until comprehensive site-specific risk assessments are conducted, including accident and failure analyses, the short-term risk associated with natural disasters, accidents, and spills remain poorly defined."
UNIQUE RISKS FOR VIRGINIA: "In the recent past, most uranium mining and processing has taken place in parts of the United States that have a negative water balance (dry climates with low rainfall), and consequently federal agencies have little experience developing and applying laws and regulations in locations with abundant rainfall and groundwater, and a positive water balance (wet climates with medium to high rainfall), such as Virginia."
PUBLIC PROCESS: "However, under the current regulatory structure, opportunities for meaningful public involvement are fragmented and limited."
WATER QUALITY IMPACTS: "Disturbances of the land surface associated with uranium mining in Virginia would be expected to have significant effects on both on-site and downstream surface water conditions. These disturbances affect both surface water quantity and quality."
http://www.southernenvironment.org/newsroom/press_releases/2011-12-19_nas_report/
