High bars; taxpayers on the hook

The much-anticipated National Academy of Sciences’ study of uranium mining in Virginia — like the other studies that have been released over the past month — does little to reassure Virginians.

Over the past four years, Virginia Uranium Inc. has pushed for the NAS study as a starting point to review current mining technology and set the stage for uranium ore mining and processing in Virginia. No other company has identified and studied an ore deposit of the size and quality of the 119 million pounds under Coles Hill that VUI wants to mine.

During public information sessions, VUI has pointed out that mining technology has changed substantially from the 1980s (when another firm wanted to mine Coles Hill) — even showing pictures of antiquated 1980s consumer technology like old cell phones to underscore the point.

But since 1987, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has tried to toughen the regulations for radon exposure because the current standards "… do not provide adequate protection for workers at risk of lung cancer from protracted radon decay exposure …" the NAS study said.

What good are all those new uranium mining jobs VUI promises if local workers are exposed to radon gas that will make them sick?

Of course, long before any mining can take place, regulations would have to be drafted by the government. But the NAS report offers plenty of warnings about those, too.

"Uranium mining, processing, and reclamation in Virginia have the potential to impact surface water quality and quantity, groundwater quality and quantity, soils, air quality, and biota," the NAS study said. "The impact of these activities in Virginia will depend on site-specific conditions, the rigor of the monitoring program established to provide early warning of contaminant migration, and the efforts to mitigate and control potential impacts."

If the Coles Hill site is designed, built, operated and watched correctly, the NAS believes "near- to moderate-term environmental effects should be substantially reduced."

Should be? If everything goes right, we should be OK? That’s the best that today’s uranium mining and milling technology offers? Should be?

What about mine wastes, of which the NAS study said: "limited data exist to confirm the long-term effectiveness of uranium tailings management facilities that have been designed and constructed according to modern best practices"?

When all the money has been made and the uranium is gone, those mine wastes will still be here, they’ll still pose an environmental threat and they’ll still have to be watched. If the storage facilities aren’t effective, what will we do then?

What about Virginia’s varied and sometimes violent weather? The study said, "Extreme natural events … have the potential to lead to the release of contaminants if facilities are not designed and constructed to withstand such an event, or fail to perform as designed."

All of those problems would have to be dealt with long before uranium mining and milling could begin at Coles Hill, and they would require Virginia’s taxpayers to spend money to develop the rules and regulations that might — or might not — keep us safe.

That’s a bad deal. Is that the best the uranium industry has to offer the Dan River Region?