Uranium Mining and the Governor’s Race Appomattox News By Jack Dunavant 19 October 2009 The Richmond Times-Dispatch published a letter last month titled “Mined Uranium Is Harmless Mineral” written by William Schmidt a long-time power company employee.
We at SCC [Southside Concerned Citizens] have found that Schmidt’s half truths and distortions are typical of many paid nuclear power proponents. Schmidt spoke about weeks of exposure, a U. N. study showing no increased risk of lung cancer in uranium miners, and alpha radiation being harmless. ……………… Alpha radiation is dangerous to life when it is inhaled or ingested!Well, Duh! Guess what Uranium mining does? It blasts and crushes solid bedrock into a fine powdery state. In which case, the problems become three-fold:
How can the dust be confined to the site during the 40 year mining period?
How can a mountain of toxic, radioactive, powdery waste 200ft. tall by 400ft. wide and 14.2 miles long be kept out of our streams?
How can millions of cubic feet of deadly radon gas be confined to the site?
The answer to each of the three questions is the same: it cannot be done.
Archive for October, 2009
Uranium Mining not clean, not safe
October 20, 2009Depleted uranium wastes a problem for Utah storage
October 17, 2009Radioactive waste shipments to Utah site facing year delay State board agrees extra steps must be taken to ensure safety of shipment .By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune 10/14/2009 Drums of radioactive cleanup waste in South Carolina are ready for loading onto rail cars for the journey to a Tooele County disposal site.But now those plans could be delayed more than a year, (more…)
BHP Billiton aims to buy more Australian uranium mines
October 17, 2009Rio announces major shake-up Perth Now
October 16, 2009
“…………….With Chinese and Japanese nuclear power companies eyeing more investment in Australia’s uranium sector, BHP is facing a big decision on whether to swoop before the best assets are put out of its reach. BHP owns the Olympic Dam mine in South Australia and wants to increase its exposure to the feedstock ahead of an expected rise in global demand as more nuclear generators are commissioned in China and India.
Its preference is still to acquire Rio’s uranium assets _ the Ranger mine and Jabiluka deposit in the Northern Territory _ but if this is not achievable because of competition concerns or Rio’s unwillingness to sell, it would have to consider alternative targets.Rio’s strategic ambitions in uranium are not clear.
Canadian state bans uranium mining
October 15, 2009N.S. legislates ban on the exploration and mining of uranium(CP) The Canadian Press 15 Oct 09 HALIFAX, N.S. — A moratorium on the exploration and mining of uranium in Nova Scotia will be turned into law by the provincial government.The ban has been in place since 1981, but was only in the form of a cabinet policy statement.
Natural Resources Minister John MacDonell says enshrining the ban in law fulfills a promise made by the NDP.He says a legislated moratorium will make it more difficult for future governments to rescind or change the law.The legislation is modeled on an Australian law.It will allow mining operations that encounter uranium in the course of looking for another mineral to continue as long as the uranium is present in quantities less than .01 per cent by weight.
The Canadian Press: N.S. legislates ban on the exploration and mining of uranium
Czechoslovakia’s nuclear plans threaten environment
October 15, 2009Czech industry ministry sparks uproar with long term power plans Radio Czechoslovakia 14-10-2009 Chris JohnstoneThe Czech Ministry of Industry has just made public its plans for the country’s energy policy over the next four decades. They include more nuclear power, the breaching of environmental barriers to mining brown coal, and expansion of uranium mining. ………
……the ministry calls for further mining of uranium — either at the current deep mine in the centre of the country or at sites in the north. That area is still suffering from the massive pollution problems caused by the chemical extraction of uranium under the former communist regime. This polluted the groundwater and has resulted in an ongoing clean-up costing billions of crowns…………..
Czech industry ministry sparks uproar with long term power plans – Radio Prague
Contamination from uranium mine in Jadugoda
October 14, 2009The most vulnerable naked nukes of India —more than 80% of India’s nuclear and missile infrastructure based in the insurgency-hit areas or extremists’ dominated region The Daily Mail 14 Oct 09
By Makhdoom Babar in Islamabad & Christina Palmer in New Delhi
“……..The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal further that in 2001 and 2002, Hiroaki Koide from the Research Reactor Institute at Kyoto University performed field trips to monitor environmental impacts of the Jadugoda uranium mine.
He monitored external gamma dose rate, radionuclide concentrations in soil, and radon concentration in air. His results are compiled in a report available for download. The main conclusions are:• The contamination from the uranium mine has spread in Jadugoda: The external gamma dose rate exceeds 1 mSv/y in the villages, and reaches 10 mSv/y around the tailing ponds.o The soil surrounding the tailings ponds is contaminated by uranium. Particularly high contamination levels were found in the village of Dungridih that borders tailings pond No.1. In other villages, no serious contamination was found.o Radon emanated from tailings ponds etc spreads contamination.o Waste rock from the mine used for construction material spreads contamination.•
Other findings include:o The No.1 tailings pond shows contamination by cesium. This fact shows that radioactivity was brought in from a source other than an uranium mine.o Product uranium concentrate is dealt with carelessly and was found dispersed at Rakha Mine railway station.The Daily Mail’s investigations reveal further that The River Subarnarekha literally translates into “streak of gold”. But the only streaks in this river are untreated sewage, industrial and mineral wastes and unbelievably, radioactive wastes, affecting human health.Radioactive wastes in Indian rivers is an undocumented environmental tragedy in India…………
Uranium ore tailings from the Jaduguda mines operated by Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL), causes various degrees of radioactivity along a 100 km stretch. This has resulted in documented cases of deformities among human beings, but, the Indian scenario being what it is, precious little has been done for them.
The Daily Mail – Daily News from Pakistan – Newspaper from Pakistan
Uranium causing illness in India
October 14, 2009The most vulnerable naked nukes of India —more than 80% of India’s nuclear and missile infrastructure based in the insurgency-hit areas or extremists’ dominated region The Daily Mail 14 Oct 09
By Makhdoom Babar in Islamabad & Christina Palmer in New Delhi
“………..a team of the Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD) had come out with some bare truths regarding health hazards faced by miners working in the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) in the form of a detailed survey report. The survey was undertaken by the organisation affiliated to Germany-based International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) in association with Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR).
“The study was conducted between May and August 2007,” said Shakeel Ur Rahman, the secretary of the national council of the association. Conducted in two different phases, while one survey concentrates on villages within the radius of 2.5 km from the mines, a similar one was undertaken in villages about 30 km from the mining areas. A total of 2,118 households in the first category, while another 1,956 households were studied in the second category.According to the survey, more children – about 9.5 per cent of the newborns – are dying each year due to extreme physical deformity, primary sterility is becoming common with 9.6 per cent of women not being able to conceive even three years after marriage. Cancer deaths in nearby villages are about 2.87 per cent and 68.33 per cent people are dying before the age of 62.
The Daily Mail – Daily News from Pakistan – Newspaper from Pakistan
Toxic uranium waste affecting Kyrgyzstan
October 11, 2009Kyrgyzstan makes progress on toxic dumps but needs to do much more – UN expert Web Newswire October 12, 2009
Kyrgyzstan has made progress in addressing the significant problems of radioactive and toxic waste dumps and in raising international awareness of the serious trans-boundary threats of contamination of groundwater and rivers, but much more remains to be done, a United Nations expert reported today.
“The social and economic impact of uranium tailings sites and other hazardous toxic waste dump sites on the local population has not been properly addressed,” UN Special Rapporteur Okechukwu Ibeanu said at the end of an 11-day visit to the Central Asian country.
Tailored measures need to be adopted to address the difficulties faced by local communities living in proximity of these sites, who often live in conditions of extreme poverty, he added, noting that the existing normative framework on chemicals and waste management is not effectively enforced, and responsible ministries and agencies do not possess sufficient human and financial resources to monitor implementation…………
Mr. Ibeanu’s purview embraces the adverse effects of the movement and dumping of toxic and dangerous products and wastes on the enjoyment of human rights, and he reports to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council as an independent, unpaid expert.
Kyrgyzstan makes progress on toxic dumps but needs to do much more – UN expert | webnewswire.com
Australian uranium creates toxic waste and weapons
October 7, 2009Mining uranium fuels a massive toxic problem Scott Ludlam 6th October 2009, The mining and export of Australian uranium only digs us deeper into the unsolvable conundrum of nuclear waste – while also supporting the growth of nuclear weapons, the Australian Greens say.
Responding to comments this week by Australia’s Co-Chair of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Gareth Evans, the Greens’ Nuclear Spokesperson Scott Ludlam said that no one around the world had managed to solve the nuclear waste problem.
“Meanwhile, we have every reason to be concerned that Australian uranium is being used for nuclear weapons proliferation,” Senator Ludlam said.“There are two options for our uranium exports: either they will end up in nuclear weapons or they will end up in a multinational toxic waste dump – which is why we should get out of this toxic and obsolete industry,” Senator Ludlam continued.
“The uranium mining industry will continue to do all it can to highjack debate about our looming energy crisis.
“While this is allowed to happen, arguments for clean renewable energies that are able to meet our base-load power needs far more efficiently and with vastly lower greenhouse gas emissions – while carrying none of the risks and waste problems of the nuclear cycle – will continue to struggle to be heard.”
BHP keeping quiet about early uranium shipment to China
October 5, 2009BHP ships first uranium from SA
The Age BARRY FITZGERALD
October 1, 2009
“……………..BHP would not give details on the shipment, which was made possible by the 2006 agreement between the former Howard government and Beijing on a nuclear safeguards pact.
The first shipment from Olympic Dam follows that made by the Rio Tinto-controlled Ranger mine in the Northern Territory last year. BBoth shipments are nevertheless ahead of the timing initially envisaged when the safeguards pact was signed. At the time, first shipments to China were not anticipated to occur until 2010
