Virginia Beach outlines uranium concerns

Comment:  The uranium miners are a bunch of smug thugs and think they can defeat Mother Nature and God, they may learn the hard way but it will destroy our water!

By John Crane
Published: March 31, 2010

ROCKY MOUNT — At a meeting Wednesday, Virginia Beach’s public utilities director presented the scope of a city-backed study to analyze the Coles Hill uranium-mining project’s effects on Virginia beach’s water supply in the event of a disastrous storm.

The study will assess the impacts of a major storm and flooding and estimate levels of contaminated sediment reaching Kerr Reservoir flowing into Lake Gaston, which supplies drinking water to Virginia Beach, and examine potential increase in background radiation in the reservoir, said Thomas Leahy, the city’s director of public utilities.

“Our biggest concern would be some kind of catastrophic event,” Leahy said during a presentation Wednesday at a meeting of the Roanoke River Basin Bi-State Commission. The meeting was held at the Franklin Center in Rocky Mount and included officials from Virginia and North Carolina.

Virginia Uranium Inc. in Chatham seeks to mine and mill a 119-million pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham.

Virginia Beach is concerned about uranium mining and milling because Lake Gaston, a major source of that city’s drinking water, is located downstream from Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County. Coles Hill is along the Banister River, which conjoins with the Dan River before flowing, along with the Roanoke River, into Kerr Reservoir. The reservoir makes up 93 percent of water flow into Lake Gaston, Leahy said.

Virginia Beach announced in January it would study what a proposed Pittsylvania County uranium mine and mill could do to the resort city’s water supply in the event of a weather-related disaster. Virginia Beach is paying the full cost of the $437,000 study, which will be complete in the fall, Leahy said. Michael Baker Corp., an engineering firm, will perform the study.

During the presentation, Leahy pointed to two large-scale storms — one in Nelson County in 1969 and another in Madison County in 1995 — as examples of catastrophic rain storms that could cause flooding. Each storm generated more than two feet of water within 14 hours.

The average stream flow in Virginia is one cubic foot per second per square mile, while extreme floods can reach levels of up to 300 cubic feet per second per square mile, Leahy said, citing figures from the U.S. Geological Survey. The study will assume a “probable maximum precipitation” catastrophic storm and its sediment release, including an estimate of contaminated sediment reaching Kerr Reservoir and possible increase in radiation, Leahy said. The Banister and Roanoke Rivers will also be modeled in the study, Leahy said.

The study will consider the volume of sediment released, initial radioactivity level of milling tailings and the amount of tailings that will remain as sediment and how much will dissolve in the water, Leahy said.

The study will also include a panel of eight experts to assist in developing the approach of phase I and reviewing results, including those specializing in uranium milling, disposal of milling waste and geotechnical matters; surface/sub-surface water contamination; sediment transport, unsteady hydrodynamic modeling; hydrology; and water chemistry/treatment.

Virginia Beach has $150 million invested in the Lake Gaston project, in addition to $200 million in indirect investment through an agreement with Norfolk. Lake Gaston water is pumped into Norfolk’s water supply, where that city treats it and gives it back to Virginia Beach.

Katie Whitehead, chairman of the Dan River Basin Association’s Mining Task Force, said the study will “give us an idea of how storm water could transport typical uranium tailings contaminants downstream from Coles Hill in the heaviest rains. We will learn about the possible effects on water quality not just in Lake Gaston, but in the Banister River and Kerr Reservoir.”

The study is an important step in understanding the possible effects of uranium mining and milling in Virginia, Whitehead said.

John Feild, the commission’s chairman, praised Leahy’s presentation, saying he applauded its objectivity and that it will enhance the commission’s knowledge of the topic. The commission makes recommendations to governing bodies on legislative matters that affect the Roanoke River basin.

Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/virginia_beach_outlines_uranium_concerns/19592/