Archive for the ‘environment’ Category

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Jharkhand’s radioactively poisoned land and water, due to uranium minng

June 10, 2013

Uranium waste contaminates water in Jharkhand  , Jun 8, 2013, New Delhi | Agency: DNA Reckless dumping of radioactive waste in Jharkhand is contaminating surface and ground water, putting thousands of locals at risk of developing cancer, according to a report by independent researchers.

The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), a subsidiary of the Department of Atomic Energy, supplies uranium (yellow cake) to nuclear power plants in the country. It mines and processes uranium at seven mines in Jharkhand’s Jaduguda area. According to atomic experts, sludge and waste from uranium mines has to be scientifically disposed of as it contains around 85% radioactive substances.

Scientific disposal means creating pits that are covered, protected, cordoned off and made flood-proof. A tailing pond over an area of 30-40 acres must be created for disposal of sludge. These ponds too have to be cordoned off, made flood-proof and ensure that it prevents overflow. The waste decays to produce radium-226, which in turn produces Radon gas, a very powerful cancer-causing agent. For its three new mines i.e. Turamdih, Banduhurang and Mohuldih Uranium Mine, UCIL has one tailing pond at Talsa village, which fails to prevent sludge overflow and is not even fenced.

PT George, director of research institute Intercultural Resources, and independent writer Tarun Kanti Bose, spent six months studying the effects of uranium mining in the areas around the mines. Their report, Paradise Lost, released recently, states that UCIL’s irresponsible dumping in the vicinity of Jaduguda village (in Purbi Singhbhum district) is extremely worrisome as continued exposure to radiation will lead to increased cases of leukaemia and other blood diseases.

Heaps of uranium mining wastes have been abandoned in Dhodanga, Kerwadungri villages and those around Banduhurang open cast mine, according to the report. “The dumping has been going on for the last five years,” said Ghanshyam Birulee, a 45-year-old resident of Jaduguda village. “Despite complaints to UCIL, it has failed to take any action.”

Danger zone
Their report, Paradise Lost,  states that UCIL’s irresponsible dumping in the vicinity of Jaduguda village (in Purbi Singhbhum district) is extremely worrisome as continued exposure to radiation will lead to increased cases of leukaemia and other blood diseases…… http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1845207/report-uranium-waste-contaminates-water-in-jharkhand

 

Posted in environment, Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL), water | Leave a Comment »

Scandalous environmental destruction through uranium mining – Canada’s Beaverlodge area

June 10, 2013

Uranium mining legacy expensive, The Star Phoenix,  By Ann Coxworth, May 30, 2013 “…….The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission recently reviewed plans for continuing management of some of the contaminated sites in northern Saskatchewan – relics of uranium mining activities that took place during the 1960s and 1970s.

The cost of remediating surface waters to levels compatible with Saskatchewan surface water quality objectives is so overwhelming thatwe know it will never happen.

Because the companies that caused the pollution are no longer in existence, these costs now fall to the federal and provincialtaxpayers. The goal of industry and regulators now is simply to prevent the contamination from getting any worse.

One such contaminated region is the Beaverlodge area.

Beaverlodge Lake, just north of Lake Athabasca and east of Uranium
City, is linked to Lake Athabasca through a series of small lakes and
rivers. It is beautiful, and is home to an abundance of fish……..
Beaverlodge Lake, however, is contaminated with the poorly managed
wastes from uranium mining operations that closed down in the early
1980s. Eldorado Nuclear was a federal crown corporation that mined and
milled uranium close to the northeast corner of Beaver-lodge
Lake……
Eldorado no longer exists. The federal government created a new body,
Canada Eldor Inc., to be responsible for liabilities remaining from
Eldorado’s operations.

Canada Eldor has been financing work on continuing monitoring,
decommissioning and planning of remediation of the actual mine and
mill sites. However, this does not include Beaver-lodge Lake itself,
although much of the contamination has drifted downstream into that
lake and, from there, into the smaller lakes and streams that feed
into Lake Athabasca.

The situation is complicated by the fact that other abandoned mine
sites a little further west, owned by other defunct companies, have
also contributed to the problem in Beaverlodge Lake. The end result is
that Beaverlodge, a 57-squarekilometre body of water, is contaminated
with uranium and selenium at levels many times higher than
Saskatchewan surface water quality objectives require. Fish
consumption restrictions now apply…..
In April, Cameco appeared at a public hearing of the CNSC to apply for
a 10year extension of its licence to manage the old Eldorado sites on
behalf of Canada Eldor Inc. Cameco presented a plan for stabilization
of the contamination which, it hopes, would get the sites into a
condition where they could be turned over to Saskatchewan’s
Institutional Control Program, relieving the federal government of
responsibility and of the need for CNSC licensing.

This plan would still leave unacceptably high levels of contamination
in five watersheds. http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Uranium+mining+legacy+expensive/8453403/story.html#ixzz2UvWzGKon

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The radioactive mess of enriched uranium at Paducah, Kentucky, USA

June 10, 2013

The Paducah plant cannot legally stay open, and it can’t safely be shut down—a lovely metaphor for the end of the Atomic Age and a perfect nightmare for the people of Kentucky.

Countdown to Nuclear Ruin at Paducah  EcoWatch May 22, 2013 by Geoffrey Sea Disaster is about to strike in western Kentucky, a full-blown nuclear catastrophe involving hundreds of tons of enriched uranium tainted with plutonium, technetium, arsenic, beryllium and a toxic chemical brew. But this nuke calamity will be no fluke. It’s been foreseen, planned, even programmed, the result of an atomic extortion game played out between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the most failed American experiment in privatization, the company that has run the Paducah plant into the poisoned ground, USEC Inc.

As now scheduled, main power to the gargantuan gaseous diffusion uranium plant at Paducah, Kentucky, will be cut at midnight on May 31, just nine days from now—cut because USEC has terminated its power contract with TVA as of that time [“USEC Ceases Buying Power,” Paducah Sun, April 19, page 1] and because DOE can’t pick up the bill.

DOE is five months away from the start of 2014 spending authority, needed to fund clean power-down at Paducah. Meanwhile, USEC’s total market capitalization has declined to about $45 million, not enough to meet minimum listing requirements for the New York Stock Exchange, pay off the company’s staggering debts or retain its operating licenses under financial capacity requirements of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Paducah plant cannot legally stay open, and it can’t safely be shut down—a lovely metaphor for the end of the Atomic Age and a perfect nightmare for the people of Kentucky.

Dirty Power-Down

If the main power to the diffusion cascade is cut as now may be unavoidable, the uranium hexafluoride gas inside thousands of miles of piping and process equipment will crystallize, creating a very costly gigantic hunk of junk as a bequest to future generations, delaying site cleanup for many decades and risking nuclear criticality problems that remain unstudied. Unlike gaseous uranium that can be flushed from pipes with relative ease, crystallized uranium may need to be chiseled out manually, adding greatly to occupational hazards.

The gaseous diffusion plant at Oak Ridge, TN, was powered-down dirty in 1985, in a safer situation because the Oak Ridge plant did not have near the level of transuranic contaminants found at Paducah. The Oak Ridge catastrophe left a poisonous site that still awaits cleanup a quarter-century later, and an echo chamber of political promises that such a stupid move would never be made again. But that was before the privatization of USEC.

Could a dirty power-down at Paducah—where recycled and reprocessed uranium contaminated with plutonium and other transuranic elements was added in massive quantities—result in “slow-cooker” critical mass formations inside the process equipment?

No one really knows.

Everybody does know that the Paducah plant is about to close. Its technology is Jurassic, requiring about ten times the energy of competing uranium enrichment methods around the world. The Paducah plant has been the largest single-meter consumer of electric power on the planet, requiring two TVA coal plants just to keep it operating, and it’s the largest single-source emitter of the very worst atmospheric gasses—chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)…….

Meanwhile, the Kentucky DOE field office in charge, managed by William A. Murphie, has advertised a host of companies “expressing interest” in future use of the Paducah site, with no explanation of how the existing edifice of egregiousness will be made to disappear. “Off the record,” the Kentucky field office has floated dates like 2060 for the completion of Paducah cleanup.

That’s two generations from now……http://ecowatch.com/2013/countdown-to-nuclear-ruin-at-paducah/

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Uranium miners might have to pay up a bit, for their environmental messes in Australia’s Northern Territory

May 23, 2013

Miners to pay for mess, NT News, ALISON BEVEGE   |  May 8th, 2013 A MINING levy will raise funds to fix polluted legacy mine sites, the NT Government has announced.

The fee will be 1 per cent of the upfront environmental bond that all miners must pay, as set by the Department of Mines’ Security Assessment Board.

The Government has said the bond would be 100 per cent of clean-up costs but there is no way for the public to tell as the amount is secret. The new levy comes into effect in October.  Mines Minister Willem Westra van Holthe said the impost would raise $6.5 million in its first year………. “We’re simply asking mining companies to chip in to a program that will be used to remediate legacy environmental problems caused by the industry.”

The move comes after the NT News exposed environmental disasters that festered for decades at defunct mines including Rum Jungle, Redbank and Mt Todd.

Camping is banned at the recreational lake near abandoned uranium mine Rum Jungle, 100km south of Darwin, as radiation levels are too high for long-term use…… Environment Centre NT co-ordinator Stuart Blanch said he supported the levy, but it would not be enough to clean up the polluted mine sites which could cost up to a billion dollars….. http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/05/08/320647_ntnews.html

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Curtail uranium mining in Kadapa district.saysThe Human Rights Forum

May 23, 2013

Excessive mining in AP uranium plant opposed http://www.deccanherald.com/content/333841/excessive-mining-ap-uranium-plant.html Hyderabad, May 21, 2013, DHNS:

 The Human Rights Forum (HRF) here has urged the state and Central governments to halt the proposed increase in the mining quantity of Uranium plant at Thummalapalle village in Vemula mandal of Kadapa district. 

The HRF has been opposing the proposed 4,500 TPD (tonnes per day) in comparison with the current 3,000 TPD.
The HRF, in a press release, stated that the excessive mining of uranium will make the land futile and deplete the groundwater. The scars left by increased uranium mining will be permanent. HRF’s claims are backed by the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) reports.

The uranium mining can eventually harm individuals. To evaluate the aftereffects of uranium mining, one has just to visit Jaduguda in Jharkhand where uranium mining takes place.

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Doctors speak out for the protection of animals from radiation from uranium minng

April 28, 2013
Medical Assocation for the Prevention of War (MAPW)  SUBMISSION ON FEDERAL REGULATION OF URANIUM MINING, by Dr Margaret Beavis April 2013 “…..With regard to non-human species, the 2010 ARPANSA Technical Report No. 154 entitled
“Environmental protection: Development of an Australian approach for assessing effects of  ionising radiation on non-human species” made the following statements:
“It is now generally accepted that under certain circumstances, there is a need to demonstrate, rather than assume, that non-human species living in natural habitats are  protected against ionising radiation risks from radionuclides released to the environment by
human actions.
In an Australian context, there is a recognised need for specific national guidance on protection of non-human species, for which the uranium mining industry provides the major  backdrop; it is Australian Government policy that uranium mining should be based on world
best practice standards for assessing environmental impacts.
It is timely that Australia now consider the development of guidance in order to provide clear  and nationally consistent advice to operators and regulators on protection of non-human  species, including advice on specific assessment methods and models and how these might
be applied in an Australian context.
This report reviews the ICRP and ERICA internaational frameworks for assessment and  protection of non-human species and the applicability to the Australian context.
The general conclusions to be drawn from this report include:
• At the international level, the International Commission on Radiological Protection  has established a framework for radiological assessment and protection of nonhuman species based on a reference animal and plant approach;
• In an Australian context, there is a need for specific national guidance on protection  of non-human species, identified through the National Directory for Radiation  Protection, and realised by the need of the uranium mining industry to integrate world  best practice standards for assessing environmental impacts;Without federal oversight and reporting this is highly unlikely to happen in any consistent,
coherent or comparable manner. So inclusion in the EPBC Act is essential……http://www.mapw.org.au/files/downloads/2013-04-Productivity-Commission-uranium-submission.pdf

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Financial losses for Ranger uranium mine – rehabilitation is the only option

April 28, 2013

9 April 13,   Kakadu uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia’s (ERA) is expected to announce a financial loss at its Annual General Meeting in Darwin tomorrow.

The AGM comes only months after open cut mining ended at the troubled Ranger site and only a month after the end of plans for uranium mining at the nearby Koongarra region.

“Now is the time to draw a line for uranium mining in Kakadu and to end plans for a new underground mine at Ranger – called the Ranger 3 Deeps project,” said Environment Centre NT spokeswoman Cat Beaton.

“The Ranger and Jabiluka leases need to go the way of Koongarra and the chapter closed on uranium mining in the Kakadu National Park region”.

The federal government has determined that ERA’s proposed 3 Deeps underground uranium mine plan requires a full Environmental Impact Statement and there is much scepticism about whether any underground mine could meet the mine lease closure date of 2021.

“Both the profitability and social license for uranium mining in Kakadu have faded and we are urging ERA to now clean up, rehabilitate and exit the Ranger lease.

There is no economic or environmental rationale for taking the Ranger operation underground and any move to do so will be actively contested,” concluded Ms Beaton.

Posted in economics, environment | Leave a Comment »

Western Australia’s economic and environmental risk in Wiluna uranium scheme

April 28, 2013

Burke’s blunder on Wiluna uranium scheme 2 April 2013. The Australian Greens strongly condemned today’s decision of Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke to allow the mining of uranium in Wiluna, Western Australia.

The Greens nuclear policy spokesperson, Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam, (left) said the approval showed Labor could not be trusted to protect the environment or public health.

“Today marks the beginning of the campaign to stop Toro, and the Greens will remain a strong voice to prevent the expansion of uranium mining around Australia.  With the government’s abandonment of environmental protection, the Greens will target the investment community to ensure that investors continue to shun this unwanted industry.

“While the Minister has placed 36 conditions on the approval, there is simply no safe way to mine uranium on a lake bed that floods.  This is a rookie company with no operating mines. The WA Government got it badly wrong and the Federal Government just blew its chance to fix this mess.

“Under new mine closure guidelines, Toro has to find 100% of the mine closure cost, around $150 million, before it has raised the $300 million to open it.  With uranium prices plummeting by more than two thirds since its peak in 2007, it is highly unlikely that Toro can open, maintain and close a mine abiding by the necessary conditions and environmental standards.

“150 nuclear power plants are scheduled for closure without replacement in Europe alone.  Toro’s business case is based on wildly unrealistic assumptions, including the projection that the US dollar will suddenly strengthen against the Australian dollar.  Tony Burke is placing our environment and public health at huge risk for precious little prospective reward.

“Australian uranium was in the four reactors of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.  After more than two years, large areas of Japan are toxic and 160,000 people remain evacuated from their homes.  It is time Australians got out of this industry.”

Posted in economics, environment, Toro Energy | Leave a Comment »

Radioactive water still leaking from Mary Kathleen uranium mine – 30 years after closure

April 28, 2013

Queensland’s last uranium mine still leaking radioactive water 30 years after production stopped   John McCarthy  The Courier-Mail  March 21, 2013  THE state’s last uranium mine at Mary Kathleen – in the Selwyn Range between Mount Isa and Cloncurry – is still leaking radioactive water from the site 30 years after production stopped. But, according to a committee report handed to the State Government this week, the return of uranium mining to Queensland is “risky but manageable”.

“The uranium mining industry has a number of inherent environmental risks,” the report said….. The report says the Mary Kathleen mine’s pit is still full of highly contaminated water to a depth of about 50m, and since the mine closed in 1982, several other studies have found “ongoing environmental legacy issues”.

Those include the seepage of acidic, metal-rich, radioactive waters from the base of the tailings dam into the former evaporation ponds and local drainage system.

 Surface waters downstream of the mine’s tailings dam have concentrations of contaminants that exceed the Australian water quality guideline values for livestock drinking water.

Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Dave Sweeney said there was no evidence that uranium mining was safe because not one former mine had been rehabilitated properly.

“In the Northern Territory there is a range of old mines, maybe a dozen or more, that are still being cleaned up 50 years after the event,” Mr Sweeney said…… http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/queenslands-last-uranium-mine-still-leaking-radioactive-water-30-years-after-production-stopped/story-e6freoof-1226601866129

Posted in employment, Mary Kathleen, water | Leave a Comment »

Uranium transport through Barrier Reef? Queensland government appears willing

April 28, 2013

Uranium export through Reef not ruled out 9 News, March 18, 2013 The Queensland government won’t rule out exporting uranium through the Great Barrier Reef, after receiving a report advocating a return to mining the radioactive material.Natural Resources and Mines Minister Andrew Cripps made the concession on Monday after receiving 40 recommendations from a committee tasked with examining the resurrection of the uranium mining industry.

Uranium mining was banned in Queensland in 1989 and the material hasn’t actually been mined since 1982. The Uranium Mining Implementation Committee’s report has recommended uranium be exported from ports in Adelaide and Darwin, given they already have the appropriate environmental licences.

However, committee chairman Paul Bell says the option is open for a port to be opened up in Queensland if demand warrants it. Talks have already been held with the Port of Townsville, he says.

Mr Cripps has not ruled out shipping uranium through the reef…. green groups remain unimpressed and have hit out at the government for lifting the ban despite saying before the election that it had no plans to do so.

An anti-uranium mining alliance of key environmental groups produced its own report on Monday, labelling the industry “high risk, low return”. ”Premier (Campbell) Newman was elected with a no-mines position and then broke this commitment without evidence, independent assessment or consultation,” alliance spokeswoman Robin Taubenfield said in a statement.

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