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Uranium company financed study into impact of uranium mining

The provisional members of the study panel, some of who have been challenged because of their ties to mining or the nuclear-power industry,….Jack Dunavant, chairman of the anti-uranium Southside Concerned Citizens, said he has little confidence in the National Academy study because Virginia Uranium is financing it.

Study will gauge impact of Virginia uranium mining,  BlueRidgeNow.com, By STEVE SZKOTAK Associated Press Writer, October 24, 2010 A one-year study intended to assess the statewide consequences of uranium mining in Virginia begins this week when a National Academy of Sciences panel convenes for two days in Washington, D.C. The 13-member study committee has a broad charge to assess the implications of lifting a 1982 ban on uranium mining in Virginia. Its conclusions are due in December 2011, and will be key to any General Assembly deliberations to lift the ban….Virginia Uranium Inc. has proposed mining a 119 million-pound deposit in Southside Virginia, near the North Carolina border.

The proposal has met fierce opposition from some local residents who fear the mining and milling of the ore will foul local farm fields and streams and water sources for localities as far away as Hampton Roads.

The provisional members of the study panel, some of who have been challenged because of their ties to mining or the nuclear-power industry, are meeting in Washington to hear from a lineup of government officials, according to an agenda for the Board on Earth Sciences, a division of the National Academy….

Much of the environmental criticism has focused on the wisdom of uranium mining in the Southeast, which is subject to tropical storms and hurricanes that churn up the coast and can turn inland. Most domestic uranium mining occurs in the arid West. They are fearful a powerful storm blowing through Virginia or North Carolina would scatter uranium tailings through the region and onto crops or into water supplies.

Tailings are the waste rock separated from the uranium ore in the milling process, which uses a chemical agent.

Jack Dunavant, chairman of the anti-uranium Southside Concerned Citizens, said he has little confidence in the National Academy study because Virginia Uranium is financing it.

“I think it’s tainted from the get-go,” he said. “The study, as far as I’m concerned, has no benefit.”…..

Despite the recession, Dunavant said he’s not sold. He said a uranium mine would in fact scare off investment.

“What industry would chose to move to an area that has a uranium mine?” he said.

Study will gauge impact of Virginia uranium mining | BlueRidgeNow.com

October 25, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | spinbuster, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear spin, uranium