Scientist: Safety of modern uranium mining ‘light years’ ahead of past
“The uranium mining industry has come a long way in the last 50 years with regard to their environmental impact on their surroundings,” says Professor James Tulenko, director of the Laboratory for Development of Advanced Nuclear Fuels and Materials at the University of Florida.
In a letter to the Danville Register & Bee, Professor Tulenko says Virginians should be confident that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study of Virginia uranium mining will safeguard the environment and the health of residents. ”It will be thorough and will leave no stone unturned,” says Professor Tulenko about the NAS study.
The National Academy study is just getting underway, with a report to the General Assembly due by December 2011. The largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the entire United States is found in Pittsylvania County in Southside Virginia. The General Assembly will look to the NAS study when it ultimately decides – likely in 2012 – whether to approve the project, known as the Coles Hill uranium deposit. Developing the Coles Hill deposit would be a major economic boost for the Southside region, creating as many as 500 new jobs and generating millions of dollars in local taxes each year.
“The uranium mines of today are light years ahead of the uranium mines of the [past],” thanks to vigorous regulation by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the last 30 years. The former 15-year Lynchburg resident also pointed to previous NAS studies that have “shown that there were no [negative] health effects around nuclear fuel cycle facilities.”
Professor Tulenko tried to alleviate concerns about radiation from uranium mines, saying that “the radiation hazard of uranium is low because uranium has little penetrating radiation and only moderate non-penetrating radiation.”
