By John Crane
Published: September 22, 2008
A local environmentalist group plans to hold a uranium educational seminar Thursday in Danville.
The Chatham Pittsylvania County Chapter of Southside Concerned Citizens will sponsor the meeting, which will be held at 7 p.m. at the Stratford Conference Center at 149 Old Piney Forest Road. (emphasis mine...SB)
Speakers will give a history of how uranium mining started in Virginia, show a video on what open-pit mining looks and sounds like, discuss alternatives to nuclear energy, like wind power, and host a question-and-answer session, said Gregg Vickrey, chairman of the SCC’s Chatham Pittsylvania County Chapter.
“It surprises people how big the explosions are and how much dust is thrown into the air,” Vickrey said.
The dust has radioactive particles and settles on land and in the water, affecting fish, cattle and crops, making the water and food dangerous to consume, he said.
Uranium mining has been banned in Virginia since the early 1980s, but Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a uranium deposit at Coles Hill about six miles northeast of Chatham. A proposed study to determine whether uranium can be mined safely in the county was tabled by a legislative committee in the General Assembly earlier this year.
Henry Hurt, an investor in Virginia Uranium, said blasting from Coles Hill would take place once or twice a day at most, and state laws mandate that exploratory drilling be done under a head of water to contain dust.
Hurt, who has attended SCC’s seminars, said the open-pit mining videos shown are unfair since the pits are refilled and replanted when they’re later reclaimed.
“It’s inflammatory,” he said.
While Vickrey also has expressed concern that drilling at Coles Hill would be done on an earthquake fault line, Patrick Wales, Virginia Uranium geologist, said the fault line is inactive and the chance of mining activity triggering a quake would be about one in a trillion.
Vickrey said alternatives to nuclear energy are available and need to be used.
Hurt agreed, but said nuclear energy also is a valuable resource.
“Everything needs to be explored, but nuclear energy is tried and true all over the world,” he said.
Virginia gets about a third of its electricity from nuclear energy and Coles Hill has about 119 million pounds of uranium ore – enough to create a two-year supply of nuclear power for the entire United States, Hurt said.
Contact John R. Crane at jcrane@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7987.
http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/
uranium_educational_seminar_to_be_held/6355/
2 comments:
Henry Hurt claims exploratory drilling should be done under a head of water. What happens to the radioactive dust-laden water?
How does Mr. Hurt know the pits will be refilled and replanted? Maybe in about 40 years. He's right about radiation being inflammatory, it will burn you up.
Wonder where Mr. Wales got his figures about the chance of mining activity triggering a quake would be one in a trillion. Can he say that's a proven fact, or did he just grab a figure out of the air?
You ask good questions, Anon. Rest assured, though, that we'll never get accurate answers from VUI.
If there's no way to trust their info at this early stage of the game, do you think there's any way to trust their information anywhere down the line?
It's always "Mr. Trust Me" who's least likely to be trustworthy.
Thanks so much for following this issue through the blog! We hope you continue to ask these questions and maintain your interest. This is the fight of your life.
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