nuclear-news

Mystery still shrouds uranium tailings storage

It is presently unknown what type of containment system —if any — would offer any degree of protection to groundwater or for how long at Coles Hill.

Mystery still shrouds uranium tailings storage, Star Tribune,  Karen B. Maute  August 1, 2012 Virginia Uranium Inc.’ website states: “Much of the tailings will be mixed with a cement-like substance and put back into the mine shafts and drifts, and the rest will be stored in heavily-monitored and regulated below-grade storage facilities.”
Ray Ganther, chairman of VEIA, said the National Academy of Sciences’ study determined that placing “tailings” — the crushed rock left over from the milling process — in below-grade cells, rather than in above-ground impoundments, would eliminate the remote risk of
contaminating Lake Gaston and other downstream water sources. (If it eliminates the risk, why require a bond?)
Even the Roanoke Times, in a December 2011 article reported, “Some of the tailings, no more than half of the 28 million tons, would be placed back into the mine once all the uranium ore is removed.” These statements are disingenuous at best. At worst?….

It is presently unknown what type of containment system —if any — would offer any degree of protection to groundwater or for how long at Coles Hill.
While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would regulate disposing of
uranium mill tailings in the original mine shaft, it has not been done
and no one has proposed doing it yet, according to NRC…….
It appears, either through omission, ignorance or desperation that
VUI, its affiliates and investors are not forthcoming with the facts
in this instance, providing yet another reason for legislators to keep
the ban. http://www.wpcva.com/opinion/article_c6ffbdfe-dbfe-11e1-a24d-001a4bcf887a.html

August 2, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uranium, USA, water