Nuke/Uranium News
Virginia Uranium Inc. is actively working to pressure Virginia’s politicians
June 20, 2013
By: Daniel Carawan
And on Monday, more bad news came out on the uranium mining front. At a presentation sponsored by the Roanoke River Basin Association (RRBA), the Director of Southwest Information and Research Center, Mr. Paul Robinson, discussed some of the misdeeds perpetrated by the Virginia Department of Mines, Mineral and Energy (DMME).
According to one source, the DMME “chose not to promulgate regulations to protect the environment, public health, and public transparency.” Instead, VUI was allowed to drill for uranium without the public’s knowledge or consent. Furthermore,
http://www.examiner.com/article/virginia-uranium-inc-is-actively-working-to-pressure-virginia-s-politicians
Environment
Uranium Mining
By Jun 22, 2013 - 11:00:31 AM
(HealthNewsDigest.com) - The big boom for American uranium mining was in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and the U.S. remained the world's leading producer of the radioactive element for many years until 1980 when U.S. production fell off dramatically due to dropping uranium prices as other countries stepped up mining of their own sources.
Today American miners turn out only about 10 percent of what they were producing in 1980.
But that may all change as several deep-pocketed mining interests have turned up the heat on lawmakers to allow them to explore and open up new sources of uranium across the American West and elsewhere.
The non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council reports that the timing is no coincidence since the program that has been supplying a large portion of U.S. uranium needs in recent years-Russia's surplus weapons uranium stockpile-is ending this year. This restriction of supply is predicted to drive prices up. Mining interests are pushing hard to open up promising sites to their drills while keeping many existing uranium mining sites open but inactive in hopes they get the green light to ramp up extraction.
The dark sides of uranium mining are well documented by now, though workers in the industry during its heyday had no idea how hazardous the element would be. Indeed, uranium miners have experienced high rates of cancer, heart disease and birth defects. Stronger regulations have since been put in place to protect mine workers, but increased cancer rates still remain an issue for current and former mine workers.
As for risk to the public, uranium mining releases radon from the ground into the atmosphere, thus posing a slight risk to surrounding populations. Radon and other pollutants can also make their way into streams, springs and other bodies of water and can contaminate drinking water in surrounding communities.
According to a report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), uncontrolled releases as a result of natural disasters like floods, fires or earthquakes can also be an issue for those around uranium mines, with even a single minor incident potentially leading to dramatic and lasting effects.
In addition to its direct human health impacts, uranium mining can jeopardize the health of ecosystems. Radioactive materials can pollute air, water and the soils near a mine. And the waste products produced from uranium mining, known as tailings, remain potentially hazardous for thousands of years and must be disposed of in specially designed, hugely expensive disposal sites.
No one can be sure how effective these disposal sites will be after hundreds of years or longer. Meanwhile, decommissioning uranium mining and disposal facilities to make affected areas safe for other activities remains overwhelming; the process can take centuries, is expensive and can be dangerous for workers and the surrounding environment.
The issues surrounding uranium mining underscore the importance of developing cleaner, greener sources of energy.
But even though the 2011 tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster in Japan should have served as a wake-up call regarding the dangers of nuclear energy, many of politicians and policymakers in the U.S. and elsewhere still push for the expansion of nuclear power-and increased uranium mining.
CONTACTS: NRDC, www.nrdc.org/nuclear/files/
EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com.Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.
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TV: Western U.S. turned into “radiant wasteland” by nuclear-related facilities http://enenews.com/tv-western-u-s-turned-into-radiant-wasteland-by-nuclear-related-facilities
Title: Moab, Utah: Beauty and the Nuclear Feast
Source: KCET
Author: Char Miller
Date: June 19, 2013
[...] The [uranium] tailings made Moab [Utah] glow — and not in a good way. For nearly 30 years, the various companies that operated the facility dumped ton after ton of the radioactive sandy byproduct into an unlined impoundment area located 750 feet from the river. Over the decades, this Geiger-hot waste, which ultimately totaled 12 million cubic yards, was spread over 130 acres at a depth of more than 80 feet. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), which took over remediation of the site, the tailings “have an average radioactivity of 665 picocuries per gram of radium-226,” and because the center of the monstrous pile has a “high water content…excess water in the pile drains into underlying soils, contaminating the ground water.”
Some the deleterious consequences are revealed in “The American West at Risk,” an illuminating book whose authors pay special attention to the Moab mill. It’s hard to dispute their claim that it ranks “high in the annals of indiscriminate disposal,” for the tailings each day continue to release “an estimated 28,000 gallons of radioactive pollutants and toxic chemicals into the only major river draining the southwestern United States.” [...]
The Canadian company, Powertech, Inc., plans to mine uranium in the Black Hills using the groundwater of our region as a tool (in situ leach mining).
The risk of permanent contamination of our aquifers is significant. Rehabilitating groundwater would be time-consuming, difficult and expensive. All attempts
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/80926/group/homepage/
Proposed nuclear waste shipments worry Reid, Sandoval
According to one source, the DMME “chose not to promulgate regulations to protect the environment, public health, and public transparency.” Instead, VUI was allowed to drill for uranium without the public’s knowledge or consent. Furthermore,
Environment
Uranium Mining
By Jun 22, 2013 - 11:00:31 AM
 |
Today American miners turn out only about 10 percent of what they were producing in 1980.
But that may all change as several deep-pocketed mining interests have turned up the heat on lawmakers to allow them to explore and open up new sources of uranium across the American West and elsewhere.
The non-profit Natural Resources Defense Council reports that the timing is no coincidence since the program that has been supplying a large portion of U.S. uranium needs in recent years-Russia's surplus weapons uranium stockpile-is ending this year. This restriction of supply is predicted to drive prices up. Mining interests are pushing hard to open up promising sites to their drills while keeping many existing uranium mining sites open but inactive in hopes they get the green light to ramp up extraction.
The dark sides of uranium mining are well documented by now, though workers in the industry during its heyday had no idea how hazardous the element would be. Indeed, uranium miners have experienced high rates of cancer, heart disease and birth defects. Stronger regulations have since been put in place to protect mine workers, but increased cancer rates still remain an issue for current and former mine workers.
As for risk to the public, uranium mining releases radon from the ground into the atmosphere, thus posing a slight risk to surrounding populations. Radon and other pollutants can also make their way into streams, springs and other bodies of water and can contaminate drinking water in surrounding communities.
According to a report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), uncontrolled releases as a result of natural disasters like floods, fires or earthquakes can also be an issue for those around uranium mines, with even a single minor incident potentially leading to dramatic and lasting effects.
In addition to its direct human health impacts, uranium mining can jeopardize the health of ecosystems. Radioactive materials can pollute air, water and the soils near a mine. And the waste products produced from uranium mining, known as tailings, remain potentially hazardous for thousands of years and must be disposed of in specially designed, hugely expensive disposal sites.
No one can be sure how effective these disposal sites will be after hundreds of years or longer. Meanwhile, decommissioning uranium mining and disposal facilities to make affected areas safe for other activities remains overwhelming; the process can take centuries, is expensive and can be dangerous for workers and the surrounding environment.
The issues surrounding uranium mining underscore the importance of developing cleaner, greener sources of energy.
But even though the 2011 tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster in Japan should have served as a wake-up call regarding the dangers of nuclear energy, many of politicians and policymakers in the U.S. and elsewhere still push for the expansion of nuclear power-and increased uranium mining.
CONTACTS: NRDC, www.nrdc.org/nuclear/files/
EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com.Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.
###
TV: Western U.S. turned into “radiant wasteland” by nuclear-related facilities http://enenews.com/tv-western-u-s-turned-into-radiant-wasteland-by-nuclear-related-facilities
Title: Moab, Utah: Beauty and the Nuclear Feast
Source: KCET
Author: Char Miller
Date: June 19, 2013
[...] The [uranium] tailings made Moab [Utah] glow — and not in a good way. For nearly 30 years, the various companies that operated the facility dumped ton after ton of the radioactive sandy byproduct into an unlined impoundment area located 750 feet from the river. Over the decades, this Geiger-hot waste, which ultimately totaled 12 million cubic yards, was spread over 130 acres at a depth of more than 80 feet. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), which took over remediation of the site, the tailings “have an average radioactivity of 665 picocuries per gram of radium-226,” and because the center of the monstrous pile has a “high water content…excess water in the pile drains into underlying soils, contaminating the ground water.”
Some the deleterious consequences are revealed in “The American West at Risk,” an illuminating book whose authors pay special attention to the Moab mill. It’s hard to dispute their claim that it ranks “high in the annals of indiscriminate disposal,” for the tailings each day continue to release “an estimated 28,000 gallons of radioactive pollutants and toxic chemicals into the only major river draining the southwestern United States.” [...]
LETTER: Powertech threatens the Black Hills’ water
By: Kim Kelley , DeadwoodThe Canadian company, Powertech, Inc., plans to mine uranium in the Black Hills using the groundwater of our region as a tool (in situ leach mining).
The risk of permanent contamination of our aquifers is significant. Rehabilitating groundwater would be time-consuming, difficult and expensive. All attempts
http://www.mitchellrepublic.com/event/article/id/80926/group/homepage/
Proposed nuclear waste shipments worry Reid, Sandoval
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Gov. Brian Sandoval have raised serious concerns about the plans to ship what federal officials say is low-level nuclear waste to Nevada.
In a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Sandoval said that while the Consolidated Edison Uranium Solidification Project canisters don’t technically qualify as high-level nuclear waste, his advisers say they are definitely aren’t “commonplace” low-level waste, or LLW.
“Even if these canisters meet a legalistic definition of LLW, they are not suitable for shallow land burial at the (Nevada National Security Site),” he said.
Nevada Gov. Tells US to Bury Nuke Waste Elsewhere http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nevada-gov-tells-us-bury-nuke-waste-19460363
Nuclear Power is So 20th Century
TV: Western U.S. turned into “radiant wasteland” by nuclear-related facilities
Published: June 20th, 2013 at 3:51 pm ET
By ENENews
By ENENews
Published: June 20th, 2013 at 3:51 pm ET
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