Company seeking to mine uranium in Virginia says water supplies not at risk; skeptic wonders

STEVE SZKOTAK Associated Press
August 28, 2012 - 6:51 pm EDT


RICHMOND, Va. — The company proposing to mine the nation's largest known uranium deposit assured Virginia Beach residents Tuesday their public water supplies would not be threatened by the processing of the radioactive ore.

Virginia Uranium Inc. restated its commitment to store radioactive-laced rock from the so-called Coles Hill deposit in below-ground containment cells, which it said would "eliminate the risk" of tailings entering public water supplies.

A Virginia Beach study has warned that a catastrophic weather event at a Pittsylvania County milling facility could scatter waste known as tailings into Lake Gaston, which supplies water to the resort city and neighboring communities about 100 miles away. The study's conclusions were based on above-ground containment cells.

"By announcing our company's firm commitment to store all tailings below ground,
Patrick Wales, Virginia Uranium's project manager, said in a statement.


Robert G. Burnley, a former director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality who opposes uranium mining, said regulators would decide how the tailings would be stored, not Virginia Uranium.

"For Patrick Wales to stand up and say 'If we could get a permit, this is what is going to be required' is just laughable," Burnley said. "My response is: poppycock."

"It just can't be done safely in this part of the world," said Burnley, who advises the Southern Environmental Law Center on uranium mining issues. "It's nobody's fault. It's just the way it is."

The processing, or milling, of the ore has been the primary concern of opponents. They fear huge amounts of uranium-tainted rock and chemicals used to separate the radioactive ore from the rock could escape containment cells during a storm of historic proportions.

A Virginia Beach study concluded that could occur and it would take two months to two years to completely flush radioactive containments out of Lake Gaston.

Virginia Beach city engineer Tim Leahy said other mining tailing accidents have occurred, despite industry's assurances, and they often involve water.

"These failures have occurred in the past and they can occur in the future," Leahy said in an interview earlier this year with The Associated Press. "We do assume the most likely event would coincide with a very, very heavy storm because when you look around the world, historically, water is often involved."

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/47f56fe8345a4cc19ca9cb34b37cf215/VA--Uranium-Mining



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