nuclear-news

Chinese serious radiation problem, uranium ash from coal mining

The environmental hazards caused by radioactive ash has been kept quiet.

Coal mines near uranium deposits spoiling value of nuclear fuel.  Experts say many coal and uranium deposits are co-located and that extraction of the fossil fuel first is ruining the value of the nuclear fuel South China Morning Post, 18 November, 2012,   Stephen Chen “…… And as China’s nuclear and coal sectors battle over the sites where the radioactive heavy metal lies buried, experts say the uranium is accidentally ending up in coal-fired power stations
– creating radioactive ash that is falling on surrounding cities.

One Canadian firm that declined to be interviewed has built a plant near one coal-fired power station in Yunnan to collect the uranium from the ash…..
The deposits in Ili in Xinjiang and Erdos in Inner Mongolia were described as “world-class” and “mega-sized” in recent reports by state media.

The problem is these rich veins of uranium are buried between thick belts of coal.

Song Xuebin, former head of China National Nuclear Corporation
(CNNC)’s 821 Factory that produces uranium fuel, has filed a complaint
with the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

He alleged the coal mines were encroaching on the uranium deposits.
“These basins contained oil, gas, coal and uranium,” he wrote. “Due to
its large scale and high speed of construction, coal mining will soon
bring huge destruction to uranium resources. It will also cause the
environment to suffer radioactive pollution.”

Professor Gu Zhongmao, of the China Institute of Atomic Energy and a
top adviser to CNNC, said that balancing the interests of the two
different energy sectors was proving a headache for the central
government…….
The environmental hazards caused by radioactive ash has been kept quiet.

Yin Lianqing, environment professor at North China Electric Power
University, said that he conducted some tests in a few cities to
monitor the radiation levels in neighbourhoods near coal-fired power
plants, and got alarming results.

“We have found some instances of very high exposure, hundreds of times
higher than what you would expect near a nuclear power plant. I asked
the cities’ environmental protection authorities to take immediate
measures to reduce residents’ exposure, such as adding dust-removing
devices to the power plants, but they demanded I keep my mouth shut,
or I would be held responsible for causing social panic.”….
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1084999/coal-mines-near-uranium-deposits-spoiling-value-nuclear-fuel

November 19, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, environment