Uranium is dangerous

Comment: Great Letter

Letter: Katie Whitehead

Uranium is dangerous
Sunday, April 26, 2009

Statements attributed to a Virginia Museum of Natural History curator and geologist supports uranium mining (in a Bulletin article April 1) are disturbing. If accurately quoted, they call for rebuttal:


1. “Uranium has this aura of horribleness around it, but it’s not that toxic.”

Uranium is toxic. So are the products it produces from radioactive decay. Radiation and heavy metal toxicity are legitimate concerns when considering mining and milling uranium and storing tailings.

The “aura of horribleness” is itself an important issue. Already, people’s perceptions of uranium mining are affecting our region. The possibility of uranium development here is adversely influencing home buying decisions and business recruitment.

2. The substance does not become dangerous until it’s enriched.

This statement is not true. Risks associated with exposure to uranium and its radioactive and heavy metal decay products vary depending on the sensitivity of the one exposed, the amount of exposure, the length of exposure, whether exposure is internal or external, what type of cells are exposed, etc.

According to Dr. Doug Brugge, a public health expert at Tufts University School of Medicine, the necessary research has not been done to determine the health risks of exposure to heavy metals from living near uranium mines, mills and tailings. Preliminary results from new studies are reinforcing health concerns.

3. “I don’t think (contaminants leaching into groundwater) will be a problem” because the ore minerals are stable.

Other geologists are less cocksure. Dr. Krishna Sinha of Virginia Tech has said the minerals are currently stable in the ground; but a robust, multi-year study would be required to determine what would happen to this stability if the ore is mined and milled.

Mining involves removing the topsoil and blasting the rock. Milling involves crushing and pulverizing the ore and adding solvents. The point of milling the ore is to remove the uranium and leave the other elements behind. For each pound or two of uranium, there would be a ton of hazardous waste materials left at the mill site. The waste cannot be expected to be stable.

The Dan River Basin Association is particularly concerned about the containment of this huge volume of waste. It is not enough to speculate about the probability of a leak. To begin to understand the risk, researchers would need to identify all of the contaminants in the tailings and understand how each would migrate and interact in the environment.

4. “If they determine it should be mined, I think it should be mined.”

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) does not make policy recommendations. Whether to mine uranium is not a scientific question. Nor will the NAS tell us whether it is safe to mine uranium and to attempt to contain the huge volume of milling waste. The National Academy will not accept “Is it safe?” as the basis for a scientific study. This is a policy question. The people of Virginia and elected representatives will decide — researchers will not discover — whether to lift the moratorium.

Katie Whitehead

Chairman, Dan River Basin Association Mining Task Force

Chatham

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=18641