Archive for the ‘wastes’ Category

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Sydney’s Western suburbs not willing to take Hunter’s Hill radioactive waste

October 30, 2011

Uranium plant waste unwelcome in western suburbs, SMH, Ben Cubby, October 26, 2011 THE state government will face tough local opposition if it intends to take contaminated waste from a radioactive site in Hunters Hill and bury it at Kemps Creek in the city’s west.

It conceded at a budget estimates hearing this week that Kemps Creek was the only viable option if 5800 tonnes of mildly radioactive dirt and rock were to be removed from the site of a former uranium-processing plant.

The waste cannot be taken overseas or interstate, but Penrith City Council remains firmly opposed to the plan, which was first floated under the previous state government. Documents produced last year showed waste was to be placed in sealed trucks and driven to Kemps Creek, and warned that protests against the operation were likely to take place in western Sydney……

Hunters Hill Council wants the site cleaned up and the earth removed but does not want to simply transfer the problem to another part of Sydney. The land, on Nelson Parade, was the site of a radium smelter between 1911 and 1916. About 500 tonnes of uranium ore were processed at the plant and radioactive tailings are still mixed in with soil.

At least six people who have lived on or next door to the site have died of cancer, but there is no proven link between elevated levels of radiation on the site and health problems.   http://www.smh.com.au/environment/uranium-plant-waste-unwelcome-in-western-suburbs-20111025-1mi4y.html#ixzz1bx7aVolq

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BHP Billiton does not need to mine uranium from Olympic Dam, could mine copper only

October 16, 2011

There is an alternative model that would see a lower greenhouse footprint and skilled jobs retained in South Australia. A peer-reviewed study by Monash University’s Dr Gavin Mudd demolished the myth that uranium is central to the mine’s expansion. His model for the expansion is safer, would use much less water and energy, and would mean more jobs and greater economic return for the local economy.

Scott Ludlam, 10 Oct 11, The Federal Government’s approval of the Olympic Dam expansion will see the creation of a carcinogenic mountain range of finely powdered radioactive waste in South Australia, the Greens warned today. Australian Greens spokesperson for nuclear issues Senator Scott Ludlam said the proposed expansion of the BHP Billiton site to will be a disaster for the environment, human health and local jobs. (more…)

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Scandalous pollution history in China’s rare earths processing

October 2, 2011

China Re-Nationalizes Rare Earths – Part One, Metal Miner by STUART on SEPTEMBER 19, 2011 That China has suffered severe and widespread pollution from the mining and refining of rare earth elements (REE) is not in doubt —

The New York Times reported this week that China had largely shut down its rare earth industry for three months to address pollution problems. Officials confirm evidence visible by satellite that large tracks around both legal and illegal mine sites have become wastelands…….

Although the illicit operation was finally closed down,  pollution nightmares continue to haunt residents as toxic water from waste heaps and the makeshift mine finds its way into creeks and ultimately to the drinking water supply system. Nor is drinking water the only medium affected; REE are found in association with thorium, making waste from the refining process radioactive…..
Apparently the government also plans to consolidate 80 percent of the production from southern China — which produces the rest of China’s rare earths — into three companies within the next year or two. All three of these companies are former ministries of the Chinese government that were spun out as corporations, and the central government still owns most of the shares. These actions will at least ensure Beijing achieves control of mining and refining; if pollution remains a problem, they only have themselves to blame.http://agmetalminer.com/2011/09/19/china-re-nationalizes-rare-earths-part-one/

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Superdumps in South Africa causing toxic radioactive pollution

September 9, 2011

He blames the recent toxic and radioactive spillages on Mine Waste Solutions, a subsidiary of Canadian First Uranium, which is reprocessing mining waste from 15 old slimes dams – some of which are located on his expansive farm – in the Klerksdorp area….

Superdumps are huge dams that store toxic waste form the smaller, historical dumps that are reprocessed for gold and uranium.

(South Africa) Radioactive spillages condemn farmlandAugust 31 2011  IOL Science Tech, By Sheree Bega INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS Johan Kondos can only use a small portion of his land to grow lucerne.   “……This lone field, and a few beloved cattle, is all Kondos has left of his farm in Hartbeesfontein in the North West.

Like many of his neighbours, he blames surrounding mining operations for contaminating his farm, situated about 5km from the Vaal River.

“Some of the pollution is historic but some of it is so recent, it’s still wet,” he explains.

“I’ve had calves born with two heads on my farm. At one time I was having 70 percent abortions and very high mortality with my animals. They drank from the Koekemoerspruit and ate the lucerne I produced.

He blames the recent toxic and radioactive spillages on Mine Waste Solutions, a subsidiary of Canadian First Uranium, which is reprocessing mining waste from 15 old slimes dams – some of which are located on his expansive farm – in the Klerksdorp area.

As part of this, the company is also constructing a controversial central tailings storage facility, or superdump, about 2km from the Vaal River, touting it as a model rehabilitation plan, where the mining waste from the 15 tailings dams is piped. Superdumps are huge dams that store toxic waste form the smaller, historical dumps that are reprocessed for gold and uranium.

In July, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) shut down Mine Waste Solutions’ operations after its inspection revealed spillages and leakages of tailings materials along the company’s extensive pipeline and on the properties of farmers like Kondos.

But a week later, Mine Waste Solutions was back on line, stating it said it had been given conditional approval to restart operations provided it follow an “enhanced pipeline maintenance programme” and submit monthly reports.

Radioactive spillages condemn farmland – IOL SciTech | IOL.co.za

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ERA’s Ranger uranium mine – inadequate radioactive waste water plan

July 9, 2011

the company is not planning to start processing its radioactive waste water for two more wet seasons.

Mr Mudd says a higher dam wall will mean the company will have even more radioactive water to process.

“In that sense it is still the temporary, sort of step-by-step measures,”

Ranger uranium waste water treatment plan attacked, ABC News, By Jane Bardon, 5 July 11   An environmental engineer says Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) should not have reopened its uranium mine within Kakadu National Park last month without committing to a waste water treatment plan. (more…)

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Massive radioactive waste pile to be created by BHP’s Olympic Dam uranium mine expansion

May 30, 2011

 “This EIS shows the company has designed Olympic Dam to leak up to eight million litres of liquid radioactive waste per day.  BHP Billiton plans to dump radioactive tailings on the surface and leave them there forever, rather than pay to isolate the toxic waste from the environment

BHP Final EIS & ACF Call to account for Olympic Dam’s international impact -BHP Billiton has released a multi-phonebook-sized environmental impact statement to support its proposal to make Olympic Dam the world’s largest uranium project, but the EIS does not address the risks that go along with Australian uranium when it is used in nuclear reactors overseas. (more…)

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Nevada’s vast areas of towering uranium waste piles

April 9, 2011

the towering waste piles, open pit lake and old leach ponds spread across an area the size of 3,000 football fields.

Polluted mine is back on feds’ list | Reno Gazette-Journal | rgj.com Scott Sonner, Associated Press  28 March 11, YERINGTON — Federal regulators who have spent a decade assessing the uranium and other toxic wastes seeping into the water table at an old Anaconda copper mine in Northern Nevada have concluded that the pollution can’t be cleaned up without adding the vast, abandoned site to the U.S. Superfund’s National Priorities List. (more…)

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Radioactive legacy of French uranium mines

February 7, 2011

When the mines are shut down, the radioactive waste remains, and it seems that the costs for managing this radioactive legacy will have to be largely supported by the society, not the companies.

Radiological hazards from uranium mining: Problems posed by the disposal of tailings, League of Individuals for the Environment, Inc, Bruno Chareyron, 5 Jan 2011, The disposal of radioactive tailings and their control on the long term, has not receivedyet satisfying solutions, taking into consideration their activity, radiotoxicityand long half-lives. Some examples from France (where about 50 million tonsof tailings are stored) and Niger are given below. (more…)

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Where to, for South Carolina’s depleted uranium? Nevada?

November 11, 2010

Nuclear Waste Shipment Could Be Headed To NV - KTVN Channel 2 , 17 Oct 10, RENO, Nev. (AP) – A shipment of 9,400 drums of depleted uranium oxide could be headed to Nevada. State officials say the U.S. Department of Energy is considering a plan to send the radioactive waste from a cleanup site in South Carolina to the Nevada National Security Site, formerly known as the Nevada Test Site……Stutsman also declined to comment on a published report that DOE wants to permanently dispose of the material at the Nevada site about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nuclear Waste Shipment Could Be Headed To NV – KTVN Channel 2 – Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video -

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NSW govt tries to sneak uranium wastes to Western Sydney suburb

November 9, 2010

The government maintained for years that Nelson Parade in Hunters Hill was safe, despite six people who lived there dying from cancer……..Ms Keneally said the waste was not ‘‘radioactive” but rather ”less hazardous, classified as ‘restricted solid waste”’………

NSW government cover up Penrith toxic waste plan, Sydney Morning Herald, Alexandra Smith, October 18, 2010 The state government deliberately delayed briefing Penrith City Council on plans to dump 5000 tonnes of toxic soil in western Sydney until after it had signed a contract with the waste company, internal documents reveal. (more…)

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