Governor's group to issue final uranium report in Chatham
Posted: Monday, December 10, 2012 7:03 pm
The Uranium Working Group will present its final report to the
Uranium Subcommittee meeting of the Coal and Energy Commission at 5 p.m. Tuesday
at the Olde Dominion Agriculture Center in Chatham.
The meeting agenda includes an overview of the role of the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission in regulating the milling of uranium. Milling is
the process of freeing the uranium ore from solid rock by crushing it and using
chemicals to extract it.
That information will be presented by Larry Camper, director
of the division of waste management and environmental protection.
Questions will be taken from members of the Coal and Energy
Commission, followed by responses by the Uranium Working Group to the public’s
submitted questions.
Delegate R. Lee Ware, chairman of the Uranium Subcommittee,
will be in attendance.
Gov. Bob McDonnell created the Uranium Working Group in
January to create a draft regulatory framework for uranium mining and milling.
The final report, released Nov. 30, is still missing a socioeconomic study. That
study, being done by the Herndon firm ORI, will not be available until
mid-January, after the General Assembly convenes.
Milling 'driving issue’ of uranium controversy
Comments: Please note that uranium mining, not milling, is presently prohibited in VA. Both mining and milling pose acute and chronic risks to a large region of VA and NC. However, the key is to continue prohibition of mining in VA. That will insure that no milling and radioactive waste disposal will occur. Having Larry Camper from the NRC address the Coal and Energy Commission tomorrow night seems diversionary and premature on the part of the UWG.
The presentations are available at this link. http://www.uwg.vi.virginia.
BY MARY BETH JACKSONmjackson@registerbee.
The process of taking solid rock containing uranium ore, crushing it and using chemicals to leech out the useful uranium — which is referred to as “milling” — is one of the more controversial parts of the uranium mining issue facing Pittsylvania County and Virginia.
Cale Jaffe, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, and Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, sided with one another on the uranium milling issue during last week’s recent panel discussion in Richmond, saying the “what-ifs” have not been sufficiently addressed.
“It’s the milling part of the process that gives me great pause and reservation,” Merricks said.
Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit located about six miles from Chatham. Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, has said he will sponsor a bill directing the state to write regulations for uranium mining and milling, which would effectively the moratorium if signed into law.
Merricks added, “I do not like putting years of containment on citizens of the commonwealth.” The leftover waste rock from the milling process — called tailings — would still be radioactive and would have to be monitored for generations.
Jaffe, calling milling “the driving issue,” agreed.
“You’re dealing with a significant amount of mill tailings waste that retains about 85 percent of its radioactivity,” Jaffe said. “Managing that for the long term is what’s driving the debate.”
Jaffe says “Is it safe or unsafe?” is the wrong question to be asking.
“We see the risks as significantly outweighing the potential benefits,” Jaffe said. “We’re looking at a particularly high-stakes gamble. It’s not a risk Virginia should take.”
Locke said the question of lifting the moratorium comes down to weighing risks against benefits.
“If you have best practices and you’re vigilant … you can mitigate some of the risk. You can never eliminate all of the risk.”
He added, “We do the best we can, which can be very, very good.”
Regulation will never mitigate all the risks associated with uranium mining and milling, said Paul Locke, chairman of National Academy of Sciences panel on Uranium Mining in Virginia.
“You can never have a regulatory framework that eliminates all the risks,” Locke said.
Locke expressed caution. He noted that no climate where uranium mining and milling has been done is completely equal to Virginia’s own. He stopped short of weighing into the debate.
Virginia Uranium has paid for local officials and legislators to visit those sites, including Watkins.
“
Cale Jaffe, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, and Delegate Don Merricks, R-Pittsylvania County, sided with one another on the uranium milling issue during last week’s recent panel discussion in Richmond, saying the “what-ifs” have not been sufficiently addressed.
“It’s the milling part of the process that gives me great pause and reservation,” Merricks said.
Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit located about six miles from Chatham. Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, has said he will sponsor a bill directing the state to write regulations for uranium mining and milling, which would effectively the moratorium if signed into law.
Merricks added, “I do not like putting years of containment on citizens of the commonwealth.” The leftover waste rock from the milling process — called tailings — would still be radioactive and would have to be monitored for generations.
Jaffe, calling milling “the driving issue,” agreed.
“You’re dealing with a significant amount of mill tailings waste that retains about 85 percent of its radioactivity,” Jaffe said. “Managing that for the long term is what’s driving the debate.”
Jaffe says “Is it safe or unsafe?” is the wrong question to be asking.
“We see the risks as significantly outweighing the potential benefits,” Jaffe said. “We’re looking at a particularly high-stakes gamble. It’s not a risk Virginia should take.”
Locke said the question of lifting the moratorium comes down to weighing risks against benefits.
“If you have best practices and you’re vigilant … you can mitigate some of the risk. You can never eliminate all of the risk.”
He added, “We do the best we can, which can be very, very good.”
Regulation will never mitigate all the risks associated with uranium mining and milling, said Paul Locke, chairman of National Academy of Sciences panel on Uranium Mining in Virginia.
“You can never have a regulatory framework that eliminates all the risks,” Locke said.
Locke expressed caution. He noted that no climate where uranium mining and milling has been done is completely equal to Virginia’s own. He stopped short of weighing into the debate.
Virginia Uranium has paid for local officials and legislators to visit those sites, including Watkins.
“
