A great letter from our Friend in Utah:
Subject: Virginia Uranium Mining and Milling Impacts
Dear Commonwealth of Virginia Delegate:Attached please find a letter regarding the impacts of uranium mining
and milling in Virginia should the ban on uranium mining be lifted.
This nformation is based on several years experience with uranium mining and milling, primarily
in Utah, the current center of the conventional uranium milling industry in the US.
Sincerely,
Sarah M. Fields
Program Director
Uranium Watch
PO Box 344
Moab, Utah 84532
435-259-9450
Uranium Watch
76 South Main Street, # 7 |
P.O. Box 344
Moab, Utah 84532
435-259-945O
January 9, 2012
via electronic mail
House of Delegates
Commonwealth of Virginia
General Assembly Building
P.O. Box 406
Richmond, Virginia 23218
Dear Sir or Madam:
I am writing to give you a fuller perspective regarding uranium mining and milling in the
Commonwealth of Virginia—should the ban on uranium mining be removed. These
uranium mining and milling issues have not been adequately presented and discussed by
the Uranium Working Group, their contractor, or in other reports and discussions related
to the lifting of the moratorium on uranium mining. As a public interest non-profit,
Uranium Watch (UW) has been involved in the oversight of uranium mines and mills for
over 6 years, and its Program Director for over 15 years. Much of UW’s experience has
been with the White Mesa Uranium Mill and the mines that provide ore to the mill in
southeast Utah. Energy Fuels Inc. recently acquired the Denison Mines (USA) Corp. mill
and mines in Utah, Colorado, and Arizona through a sale and merger process.
1 In
December 2012 Energy Fuels Inc. announced its intent to obtain a 19.9 % share in
Virginia Energy Resources, Inc.
2
SUMMARY
• There are intractable technical issues related to uranium mining and milling in
Virginia that have not been adequately characterized and addressed. These
issues arise due to the wet environment (precipitation greatly exceeds
evaporation); the uranium mines and mills in the West are in an environment
where evaporation exceeds precipitation.
1
http://www.energyfuels.com/news/index.php?&content_id=168
2
http://www.energyfuels.com/investors/press_releases/index.php?&content_id=232
• Uranium mines and mills have separate regulatory programs. Mines and mills
are not, and would not be, licensed and regulated as a single operation.
• Uranium mines in Virginia would require large impoundments for the storage
and treatment of mine water prior to discharge offsite.
• The discharge of treated mine water would result in the deposition of uranium,
radium and non-radioactive toxic contaminants into surface water.
3
• Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation allows for discharge of mill
tailings effluent in areas where precipitation exceeds evaporation, without
requiring the removal of hazardous processing fluids, such as sulfuric acid and
kerosene.
4 The discharge standard only applies to the minerals zinc, uranium,
and radium.
• Mill operators would not be able to place mill tailings back into an open-pit
mine.
• The EPA has a standard for the emission of radon from underground uranium
mines, but does not have a standard for the emission of radon from open-pit
uranium mines.
5
• Any lined tailings impoundment would eventually leak. In an area with a high
water table, this effluent would migrate into ground and surface waters.
• The EPA and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations for the
reclamation of tailings impoundments are based on the assumption that the
tailings will dry out, to enable the placement of a final radon barrier and to
remove the source of future leakage.
6 The tailings closure plan, or reclamation
plan, includes dewatering or the removal of freestanding liquids.
7
• There is no information explaining how a tailings impoundment in Virginia
would dry out and be kept dry over thousands of years, so that there will be no
need for long-term monitoring and maintenance.
Virginia House of Delegates 2
January 9, 2012
3
40 C.F.R. § 400.34(a). http://cfr.regstoday.com/40cfr440.aspx#40_CFR_440p34
4
40 C.F.R. § 400.34(b)(2).
5
40 C.F.R. Part 61. http://cfr.regstoday.com/40cfr61.aspx
6
40 C.F.R. Part 192, Subpart D.
http://cfr.regstoday.com/40cfr192.aspx#40_CFR_192pSUBPART_D
10 C.F.R. Part 40, Appendix A.
http://cfr.regstoday.com/10cfr40.aspx#10_CFR_40pAPPENDIX_A
7
40 C.F.R. § 192.31(n).
• Tailings impoundments are not designed to withstand high winds and/or intense
rainfall associated with hurricanes and tornadoes. Such events would disperse
contaminated water and radioactive and hazardous materials throughout the
environment.
• Once groundwater becomes contaminated with uranium, uranium progeny, and
tailings effluents, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to fully remediate.
• Mill tailings and mine waste rock will remain forever as continual sources of
emissions of radioactive and hazardous contaminants into air and water.
• Even the best regulatory programs cannot alter these technical and
environmental realities.
• Lifting the ban on uranium mining will mean that the government and citizens
of Virginia will have to deal with the wastes and contaminants from uranium
mining and milling in perpetuity.
CONCERNS
UW has been troubled by the misinformation in the Wright Environmental Services
report, particularly the creation of confusion between the regulation of uranium mining
and uranium milling.
Although the ban on uranium mining in the Virginia focuses on the uranium mining
aspect, the greatest environmental hazards could come from the processing of the
uranium ore at a uranium mill. At Coles Hill, this mill would be near the underground
and/or open pit mine. Uranium mills are regulated by the NRC under the Atomic Energy
Act. Uranium mines do not fall under NRC regulation. Although milling removes about
90% of the uranium, the decay products are retained in the tailings, comprising some
85% of the original radioactivity. The tailings (
containing radioactive decay products,
heavy metals
, toxic minerals, and processing chemicals) would be disposed of in lined
tailings impoundments, or cells. There has been some talk of placing those tailings back
into an open pit mine at Coles Hill. It is unlikely that this would be allowed under
current EPA regulations for the disposal and long-term care of uranium mill tailings (40
C.F.R. Part 192), since the tailings must be deposited into engineered, lined
impoundments no larger than 40 acres (unless the tailings have been de-watered prior to
deposition), and it would be prohibitively expensive and hazardous to move the tailings
from one engineered disposal impoundment to another.
During mill operation, the tailings cells must be kept wet on top to minimize the release
of radon gas. Most uranium tailing impoundments are in the southwest, where the
amount of evaporation greatly exceeds the amount of precipitation. In Virginia, during
operation the tailings would be subject to extreme weather events (including hurricanes),
which can produce high winds and large amounts of rain in a short period, plus the
Virginia House of Delegates 3
January 9, 2012
prospect of tornadoes. Very high winds would disperse the tailings and highly toxic
tailings fluids into the surrounding area. A mill would have to be able to contain the
overflow from tailings and tailings fluid impoundments. The failure of engineered ponds
to contain the tailings and tailings fluids would cause migration of contaminants into the
soil and ground and surface water. Tailings cells and evaporation ponds are not designed
for protection from tornadoes and hurricanes. Extreme weather events would also
disperse radioactive and hazardous materials from the ore storage area and other mill
locations.
Once the tailings effluents enter the groundwater, it is extremely difficult and expensive
to remove them. Contaminated groundwater flows into surface water. In New Mexico
there is an ongoing project to reduce and contain a plume of contamination at the
Homestake Mill (also a Superfund site), which was first identified in the 1970s.
8 9
Uranium ore contains elevated concentrations of heavy metals and trace elements, so
both radioactive and hazardous constituents must be removed. The minerals (including
uranium) create the potential for chemical toxicity from surface water and groundwater
contamination. In an area with a high water table, radioactive and toxic elements would
spread rapidly.
Another problem would be the possible planned discharge of tailings liquids into a local
water course. Under EPA regulations (40 C.F.R. § 440.34(b)(2)), in an area where the
precipitation rate exceeds the evaporation rate, the mill can discharge tailings fluids
offsite. The effluent limitations on the discharged tailings liquids are the same as the
limitations for discharged uranium mine waters. The effluent limitations apply to the
elements uranium, radium, and zinc, but do not limit other metal and metalloids (such as
arsenic) or the many processing chemicals (such as kerosene and sulfuric acid). This
means that toxic processing fluids could be discharged into the waters of Virginia during
the mill operation.
During reclamation tailings cells must dry out to remove free standing liquids and settle
the impoundment to facilitate the placement of layers of soil and rock as a cover and final
radon barrier. The purpose of the final radon barrier is to keep radon in and future
precipitation out. Considering the amount of precipitation in Virginia, it is unlikely that
the tailings impoundment would be able to dry sufficiently to allow for the placement of a
final radon barrier. It is unlikely that a barrier could be engineered to prevent
precipitation from eroding the tailings impoundment and to prevent water from entering
the tailings over many thousands of years. Eventually the liners will break down, so any
free liquids could leach the unwanted tailings constituents into the surrounding
groundwater. This may happen in ten years, or one hundred; but, it will happen
Virginia House of Delegates 4
January 9, 2012
8
http://www.epa.gov/region6/6sf/newmexico/grants/nm_grants_5yr_plan_07-2012.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/region6/6sf/newmexico/homestake_mining/nm-homestakemining-
3rd-5yr_review.pdf
9
http://www.sric.org/voices/2010/v11n1/homestake.pdf
eventually. That means that the tailings impoundments and surrounding groundwater
would have to be monitored in perpetuity. It was the intent of the Atomic Energy Act that
remediated mill sites would not require active long-term care and maintenance.
The final radon barrier must be engineered to provide “reasonable assurance of control of
radiological hazards to (i) be effective for 1,000 years, to the extent reasonably
achievable, and, in any case, for at least 200 years.”
10 What happens when the the
radiological hazards can no longer be controlled? What happens when the radon barrier
begins to erode? What happens when effluents start to leak into the groundwater?
Uranium mining in Virginia would require constant active de-watering of the mines,
whether underground or open pit. That means the storage, treatment, and discharge of
thousands of gallons of mine water containing low levels of uranium and radium and
other contaminants that are not subject to effluent limitations.
11 The storage ponds would
be large and would have to be engineered to hold water from high precipitation events
and be protected from high winds and tornadoes. A tornado or hurricane could rip apart a
pond full of untreated mine water. The question is whether safe systems are technically
possible. The failure of the ponds and tailings impoundments to contain the mill and
mine effluents would be devastating.
Another factor in the life cycle of a uranium mine or mill is the possibility for the mill to
be placed on standby for long periods of time, due to fluctuations in the price of uranium.
In Utah, the Shootaring Canyon Uranium Mill has been on standby for 30 years.
12
Energy Fuels recently announced that 3 of their permitted Utah uranium mines would be
in non-operational status by the end of 2012,
13 adding to 4 non-operational mines in Utah
and several in Colorado. Some of the permitted Energy Fuels mines had been nonoperational
for 10 to 20 years. During non-operation no reclamation work was done and
hazardous conditions existed at the essentially unregulated mine sites.
Most of the reports about uranium mining in Virginia have conveniently avoided the
practical engineering challenges associated with uranium mining and milling in an
extremely wet environment—with the potential for extreme weather events. All the
regulations in the world will not solve these problems. The contamination of
groundwater and surface water from uranium mining milling effluents in Virginia is
inevitable. Drinking water sources, vegetation and wildlife in riparian areas, recreation
areas, streams and rivers, agriculture production, domestic livestock production, human
health and well being would be shattered.
Virginia House of Delegates 5
January 9, 2012
10
20 C.F.R. Part 40, Appendix A, Criterion 6(1).
http://cfr.regstoday.com/10cfr40.aspx#10_CFR_40pAPPENDIX_A
11
40 C.F.R. § 440.34.
12
http://www.radiationcontrol.utah.gov/Uranium_Mills/uraniumone/index.htm
13
http://www.energyfuels.com/_resources/news/nr_2012_12_21.pdf
The a history of uranium milling is a history of industry and regulatory agencies ignoring
contamination of groundwater until after the fact, then scrambling to remediate ground
water and surface water contamination, with minimal success. The story is of a few
receiving economic benefits and the community and the environment bearing the burdens
of the adverse health and environmental impacts. The costs to the taxpayers to address
these health and environmental impacts from uranium mining and milling is in the
billions of dollars.
Please take this information into consideration when deciding whether to lift the
moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Sincerely,
Sarah M. Fields
sarah@uraniumwatch.org
Virginia House of Delegates 6
January 9, 2012
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