Uranium mining safety raises skepticism

Delegate Clarke Hogan is highly skeptical that uranium can be mined safely in Southside Virginia but believes the state will support a mining study.

“At this point, I see no proof that you can mine this uranium safely,” Hogan, R-South Boston, said Wednesday.

Uranium mining has been banned in Virginia since the early 1980s, but Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a uranium deposit at Coles Hill about six miles northeast of Chatham.

A proposed study to determine whether uranium can be mined safely in the commonwealth was tabled by a legislative committee in the General Assembly earlier this year. Delegate Watkins Abbitt, I-Appomattox, proposed the motion to table the issue and Hogan seconded it.

Hogan said he would try to stop any attempt to end the state’s ban on uranium mining.

“I would fight lifting the moratorium at this point unequivocally,” he said.

But officials at Virginia Uranium maintain the facts revealed by a study would allay concerns and result in mining supporters’ favor.

“Ultimately, we believe science will triumph over fear,” Walter Coles Jr., executive vice president of Virginia Uranium, said via e-mail Wednesday.

The uranium mining issue is not going away and a study is inevitable, Hogan said. He opposed the study during the last session of the General Assembly but said Wednesday that continuing to go against it is not feasible.

That’s why Hogan asked the Danville-Pittsylvania County and Halifax County chambers of commerce in August to form a committee and gather questions from their constituencies about what they would want answered in a study.

The Danville-Pittsylvania County chamger opted against forming the committee early this month, but endorsed a mining study in 2007.

“That’s their prerogative,” Hogan said, adding that Halifax County’s chamber is moving on with its efforts.

Hogan said he wants the broadest perspective possible and a consensus on what questions will be answered by the study, which he wants performed by a group of independent scientists.

Coles said he commended Hogan’s intention to gather public input.

“We applaud Hogan’s desire to include his constituents’ concerns,” Coles said. “Through the study process, conducted by independent scientists, we think that much important information will be forthcoming — information that will reassure citizens and legislators that uranium mining can be done safely.”

Hogan said his biggest concern is that uranium was mined in sparsely populated areas in the past, while Virginia Uranium seeks to mine in the more heavily populated Southside, close to water supplies and in the area’s rock strata.

Walter Coles Sr., owner of Virginia Uranium, said uranium was milled safely, but not mined, in Canonsburg, Pa., in the earlier part of the 20th century.

A fact sheet from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management states the land around the milling site is “moderately populated” and uranium and other ores were milled there from 1911 to 1957.

Radioactive materials processed there caused uranium contamination of groundwater in the uppermost aquifer under the main site, the fact sheet states. Groundwater at the Canonsburg site flows into Chartiers Creek, but “no milling-related constituents have been detected in samples of creek water,” according to the Office of Legacy Management.

Contact John R. Crane at jcrane@registerbee.com or (434) 791-7987.