Russia takes aim at US nuclear power by throttling uranium
Limits creates potential supply risks to utilities operating American reactors that generate almost a fifth of the country’s electricity.
A proposed uranium mine in Virginia is attracting its share of proponents and detractors.
The state has upheld a ban on uranium mining since 1982, but the ban is being reconsidered in light of a proposal by Virginia Uranium Mining to extract 119 million pounds of the nuclear fuel from what would be the world’s seventh-largest uranium deposit.
On Thursday a day-long forum was held to weigh arguments on either side of whether the private company should be allowed to (mostly underground) mine the Coles Hills deposit.
Bloomberg reports the forum took place about a month ahead of a scientific report by the National Academy of Sciences which is expected to be an important source of information for the state legislature if it decides to consider ending the uranium ban:
Proponents said tapping the deposit in Southside Virginia would be an economic plus for a struggling region of the state and a step in the right direction of energy independence, while opponents said it would be a risky environmental gamble in a region where full-scale uranium mining has never occurred.
According to the Bloomberg report, the main environmental argument against the mine is that it is located in an area “subject to hurricanes and drenching rains” which could wash radioactive tailings downstream and impact local water supplies. Opponents also question whether Virginia has the resources to oversee uranium mining.
Virginia Uranium says on its website that it will “employ technological best practices relating to tailings storage and water treatment, and exercise strict adherence to rules and regulations established by the Virginia Department of Mines Minerals and Energy.”
Meanwhile, in mid-October Republican senators and members of congress introduced a bill to counter an effort by the Department of the Interior to remove mining rights from a region in northern Arizona, which borders Grand Canyon National Park. MINING.com reported:
“This legislation will stop the U.S. Department of the Interior from banning mining in a vast area of Arizona, and killing jobs in the uranium mining industry,” said the group in a joint statement.
