Comment: Hi Paper People, stop calling anybody who has concerns with uranium mining "Anti-Uranium or Uranium Foes", we are just concern citiziens who do not want our water, land, air and health ruin, period!
By Tara Bozick
Published: March 17, 2011
Environmental groups and local residents would like a National Academy of Sciences committee to consider Japan’s nuclear crisis as it studies uranium mining in Virginia.
Japan is working to stave off a meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility after a magnitude 9.0 earthquake spawned a tsunami that cut off the power supply to the cooling systems.
The Roanoke River Basin Association, the Dan River Basin Association, the League of Individuals for the Environment, Inc., Southside Concerned Citizens, Inc. and the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League submitted joint comments to NAS, asking the study committee to examine implications of Japan’s nuclear crisis, like how it will affect global uranium prices and the sustainability of proposed uranium operations in Virginia, according to a news release.
Deborah Lovelace, president of LIFE, asked what would happen if uranium prices fell.
“Who deals with the situation if the uranium company starts mining and milling, becomes unprofitable, and abandons the site?” Lovelace said in a prepared statement. “What will happen to our farming and water while waiting for clean-up? Who pays for any contamination?”
Louis Zeller, BREDL science director, said in a statement that safeguards in industries involving radioactive materials must be re-evaluated in light of the tragedy in Japan.
Andrew Lester, RRBA executive director, questioned the adequacy of “antiquated” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulations of conventional uranium mills
“Will the basin’s residents and our water resources be protected if a disaster strikes?” Lester asked in a statement.
The NAS study will help state legislators determine whether to lift a decades-old moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia.
Virginia Uranium Inc. proposes to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium deposit at Coles Hill in Pittsylvania County.
Uranium spot prices fell after Japan’s disaster, but Wales noted most uranium is sold in long-term contracts
Read more:
http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/mar/17/anti-uranium-groups-ask-nas-consider-japan-disaste-ar-913206/
