A uranium mining show-and-tell

To the editor:

In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia Uranium Inc. Project Manager PatrickWales said, “We’re fighting ‘The Simpsons.’ Most Americans know everything they do about the nuclear industry from Homer Simpson.”

Homer is a cartoon character who tosses a stray piece of nuclear waste out of his car and into the street at the start of every episode.

After delivering that explanation of the problems of Virginia Uranium, Wales then reportedly conducted a kindergarten level “show and tell” using a uranium-bearing rock! He explained there was a difference between the danger from that rock on his desk and spent uranium fuel rods. Do tell! Heavens to Betsy, will wonders never cease?

IfWales feels he’s fighting the Simpsons, then he should be aware that some of those “Simpsons” feel they are trying to communicate with the Flintsones, specifically Fred and his pal, Barney Rubble.

Why not discuss something interesting for the interview, such as the stripping ratio, which is the amount of rock in which the uranium ore is located that will be removed from the mine either to reach the uranium ore or along with the ore? This is called “waste rock.”

For an open pit mine that ratio is 40:1 (40 tons of waste rock for one ton of ore), but Virginia Uranium has indicated in recently released studies that it intends to do underground mining so that ratio may be less.

Coles Hill’s uranium ore is embedded in rock, which analysis has shown contains 20 elements, including lead, arsenic and sulfates. Sulfur minerals oxidize under weathering, then combine with water to formsulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid runoff, not to mention arsenic and lead runoff, from waste rock is much more interesting than show-and-tell uranium bearing rock! Such runoff could endanger human, animal and plant life and water resources.

Then, of course, Wales could have discussed tailings cells, being those 40acre lined pits containing the milling waste from the alkaline leaching to obtain the uranium ore to be milled into yellowcake. These cells are areas that will have to be monitored for thousands and thousands of years because of the toxicity to human, animal and plant life. The impact of possible hurricanes and earthquakes on these cells is an added, possibly unique aspect of uranium mining at Coles Hill. This would have been much more interesting than a show-and-tell rock!

I guess a ”Simpson” just does not understand what makes a good newspaper interview.

HILDRED C. SHELTON

Danville