The Roanoke Times
September 27, 2011
By Laurence Hammack
A piece of Pittsylvania County land that may one day be a uranium mine is the site of "frequent and pervasive flooding," according to a study by an environmental group.
Floodwaters may carry the risk of radioactive contamination from uranium mining waste, called tailings, that would be stored underground at the mine site, said a report released Monday by the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League.
Since Virginia Uranium Inc. proposed tapping a huge uranium deposit beneath the Coles Hill farm in Pittsylvania County, cities and counties as far downstream as Virginia Beach have raised concerns that runoff could pollute their drinking water. Mining on a flood-prone site -- the report lists four floods of historic proportions since 1996 - could heighten the risk, opponents say.
"The evidence of pervasive flooding throughout the Coles Hill site suggests there would be chronic and catastrophic failure of mill tailings containments, no matter where the containments may be sited," the Environmental Defense League's report said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has designated three flood hazard zones on the 3,500-acre property.
The FEMA flood zones are aligned with three waterways - Mill Creek, Whitethorn Creek and the Bannister River - that flow through the site and eventually into the Roanoke River, the source of drinking water for 1.2 million people in Virginia and North Carolina.
All three flood zones are on the southern end of the property, where Coles said there has been no exploratory drilling and where his company has no plans to mine.
Meanwhile, Virginia Uranium has sent some state lawmakers - including Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke - on expense-paid trips to France and Canada to view examples of how uranium can be mined responsibly.
"These company-paid junkets must not be substituted for hard science as the basis on which the Virginia General Assembly decides whether to keep the ban on uranium mining," said Ann Rogers, the author of the Environmental Defense League report.
The Coles Hill site, home to a 119 million-pound uranium deposit thought to be the country's largest, is different from other mines often cited by the company because it receives more rainfall, critics said.
A November 2009 flood left significant portions of the land covered by either standing or running water, the report said.
Adding to the Environmental Defense League's concerns is the presence of a spring and several acres of wetlands in the southern area of the site. That "suggests the presence of a very high quantity of underground water" that could also be susceptible to contamination, the report states.
Once the ore is hauled away, the tailings from its extraction will remain in underground storage areas. Those tailings can remain radioactive for thousands of years.
With so many floods to come in the centuries ahead, Rogers said her research shows the need for additional study to fully assess the dangers.
"This report is really a way to put that message out," she said. "It's a little bit too risky to make a decision without a full-scale hydrological study."
Read more:
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/09/study-pittsylvania-county-uranium-site-prone-flooding
