By John Crane
Published: March 13, 2010
Experts say uranium mining and milling in Pittsylvania County will lower property values, make it more difficult for farmers to sell their products and greatly increase residents’ risks of illnesses and disease caused by living near a uranium mine.
Also, the uranium deposit at Coles Hill northeast of Chatham is not 119-million pounds as mining proponents claim but just 5.5 million pounds, said Paul Robinson, research director at the Southwest Information & Research Center in Albuquerque, N.M.
But another expert (lobbyist for oil companies, not an expert, per ACE), Marita Noon, executive director of the Citizens Alliance for Responsible Energy in New Mexico, says Canada has been mining and milling uranium for years with no ill effects.
VUI seeks to mine and mill what they say is a 119-million pound uranium deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Virginia has had a moratorium on uranium mining since 1982.
The National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council(NAS supports Nuclear Power and the study is paid for by VUI, money funneled by VA Tech,per ACE) is performing a $1.4 million technical study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the commonwealth. The study, paid for by VUI through Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research, is expected to be completed by the fall of 2011.
Robinson, during a presentation at an uranium symposium in Richmond on Thursday, said uranium mining and milling will cause property values to plummet and hurt the area’s agriculture, making it difficult for farmers to sell their items produced just a few miles from a uranium mine.
Uranium tailings, or waste products from milling, contain toxic chemicals and radiation, which can spread to neighboring communities by air, surface water and groundwater, he said.
Even if there is no harm from uranium mining, the idea that mining could take place in Pittsylvania County can negatively affect real-estate values, Robinson said.
“The perception of risk is very important in marketing, and that has a socio-economic impact on neighbors,” Robinson said during the presentation.
But there is enough uranium already being produced in the world to last 100 years, based on current consumption, Robinson said. Supply has exceeded demand for years and the world only consumes about 65,000 tons of uranium per year, Robinson said.
(Dr.) Doug Brugge, associate professor at Tufts University’s School of Medicine, said during a presentation at the uranium symposium Thursday that uranium causes health effects similar to those of lead, and causes kidney damage and developmental effects in animals. Brugge said a 2005 study found that depleted uranium causes defects in hamsters’ ovary cells from its heavy metal toxicity.
Humans living near uranium mines have twice the normal risk for hypertension, diabetes and kidney disease, Brugge said.
Also, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s safe-drinking standard for uranium levels in water — 30 micrograms per liter — are too loose, Brugge said. A microgram is one millionth of a gram.
In addition, radon, radium and arsenic, all byproducts of uranium mining and milling, cause a variety of cancers, Brugge said.
Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/experts_spar_over_uranium_minings_hazards_benefits/18966/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Marita_Noon
