By Dan Crawford
A shift toward embracing nuclear power as the solution to solving both our world's energy woes and global warming has begun to take foot across the planet. This shift is largely being driven by factors like high oil and natural gas prices, concerns over availability of oil and gas, green house gas (GHG's) emissions, electricity demand growth and misinformation.
The international nuclear energy community has begun in earnest a far-reaching media campaign to float nuclear power as a "clean, green and sustainable" energy source. The focus has largely been on the fact that a nuclear plant does not directly release GHG's into the atmosphere. Missing from that claim is any mention of the green house gases released throughout the rest of the nuclear cycle: from mining and transportation of uranium, to the building of the massive plants. Also missing are the concerns over environmental damage due to radiation exposure, tailings pollution, ground water contamination, nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear waste management. There is still no safe way of handling spent fuel rods from a nuclear plant. Furthermore, the waste must be managed for hundreds of years.
Nonetheless, these past few years have seen a flurry of announcements for proposed nuclear reactor development projects. Leading the pack are the countries of India and China. To date, a total of 179 nuclear plants world-wide are either under-construction, planned or proposed. If all projects come to fruition, there will be an increase of 40% in the number of nuclear plants in the world.
Breakdown of nuclear plant projects and the most active countries:
25 - Under-construction (India 8, Russia 4, China 2 ...)
41 - On Order or planned (Japan 12, China 9, South Korea 8 ...)
113 - Proposed (India 24, South Africa 24, China 19, USA 13 ...)
The amount of uranium required to meet this growth will be substantial. Also, the amount remaining in worldwide stockpiles is lower than previously thought, and decreasing quickly. All of these factors have helped produce a steady rise in the pice of uranium. In 2000, it was selling for $7 US per pound; now it is $38 US per pound.
In North America, the number of public exploration companies trying to cash in on this uranium rush has increased substantially. In 2003, there were less than 20 exploration companies compared to over 100 currently in search of a big find today.
The province of British Columbia has had a long history with uranium. In fact, the first nuclear bombs developed by the US contained uranium from NWT and transported through BC. During the 70's much of the province was explored for this heavy metal. Out of concern, citizens of BC conducted a Public Inquiry into Uranium Mining. Surprisingly, the project was partially funded by the provincial government to appease demands from the public. This inquiry was then shut down before completion by the very same government. At the same time, the government placed a seven-year moratorium on uranium mining within the province. A general view shared by those involved is that the government did not want the research that was being conducted by the Inquiry to be made available in the public domain.
More recently this issue has re-surfaced in the province. The most notable activity has been with the Blizzard claim just south of Kelowna. This claim is regarded as the most viable one out of a handful of uranium deposits in BC. Two companies are involved - Santoy Resources and Sparton Resources. These entities have come together and formed the Boss Gold Company, which will be responsible for development of the Blizzard claim.
The property was first explored in the seventies, and left riddled with drill holes and debris that are still present today. The president of Santoy Resources, Mr. Ron Netolitzky, openly admits to this in an interview with the Explorers' League Dispatch (Vol 1; No. XII): "The property is like Swiss cheese, it's had so many drill holes put in it".
One of the many issues raised around uranium mining is that any disturbance of the heavy metal can contaminate the surrounding environment, which can also suffer contamination by other byproducts such as radon gas. Uranium is water soluble and can be readily transported through rivers and ground water. Unfortunately, monitoring the surrounding area of a claim to help gather a baseline data set for understanding the impacts of exploration and mining is not currently mandated. This makes it even more difficult for residents in the area to determine the effects caused by any mining activity.
Water contamination from mining operations is a valid concern.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency contends that heavy-metal pollutants flowed for decades down the Columbia River from Teck Cominco's smelter in Trail, into Washington state waters. The EPA told Teck Cominco to pay for a study to determine the extent of the pollution and perform a clean-up. A lawsuit is in progress between the Colville Confederated Tribes of Eastern Washington, along with the state of Washington, alleging that Teck Cominco has failed to comply with the order from the EPA. This lawsuit has yet to be resolved.
In Kleberg County, Texas, a community has made several unsuccessful attempts at stopping a uranium mine operation. During a hearing in August, residents argued that Uranium Resources Inc. had failed to clean groundwater at their prior mine sites and their operations could pose a threat to the county's underground water supply. The residents lost, and mining operations will commence within the next year.
The BC Liberal government is heavily influenced by the mining community. In fact, over $700,000.00 of their 2005 provincial election funding came from the mining sector (excluding oil and gas). The biggest mining donors were:
$132,990.00 Fording
$112,210.00 Teck Cominco
$77,000.00 Highland Valley Copper
$60,000.00 Teck Cominco Metals
$52,500.00 Wheaton River Minerals
$50,000.00 Placer Dome Inc.
$27,990.00 Canadian Natural Resources Limited
$18,000.00 Silver Standard Resources Inc
$15,000.00 Cline Mining
$10,650.00 Canadian Gold Hunter Corp.
$10,000.00 Ivanhoe Mines
$10,000.00 SMM Resources Incorporated
$10,000.00 Southwestern Resources Corp.
$10,000.00 Breakwater Resources Ltd
$10,000.00 Northgate Exploration Limited
As uranium keeps increasing in price, the issue of mining it will eventually be brought to the fore in BC politics and public discussions. The mining industry has made a significant investment in the BC Liberals. Will democracy be upheld on this issue or will it be influenced through monetary interests?
A Uranium-Free BC Coalition was formed recently in Kelowna out of a group of 30 concerned citizens, many of whom were involved over 25 years ago fighting for the same cause. The meeting called upon the BC provincial government to immediately renew a moratorium on uranium exploration and mining. They also want to reactivate a public inquiry into health risks, environmental impacts and end uses associated with uranium exploration and mining.
The coalition will be hosting a screening of "I know I'm Not Alone" a just released movie directed by Michael Franti documenting his journeys through Iraq, Israel and Palestine. The event will be held on March 19th 7:30pm at the Capitol Theatre in Nelson, BC. More information can be found at www.uraniumfreebc.org
http://dan.kootenaygreen.ca/?Articles:Uranium_Exploration_in_BC_set_to_take_off
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