National Academy selects panel for Virginia uranium mining study
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced last week the provisional 13-member committee that will conduct the Academy’s long-anticipated study of uranium mining in Virginia. The committee is comprised of academics from various fields, geologists, mining and public health experts and environmental scientists. (Click here to view the entire study committee and brief bios on each member.)
The National Academy study, commissioned by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission, will examine the public health, safety and environmental impacts and other technical aspects of uranium mining in Virginia. The study committee is expected to hold a series of public meetings in Southside Virginia and Richmond in the fall or winter of 2010. The study’s final report is due in December 2011.
For now, the study committee announced by NAS is provisional until the public has a chance to weigh in on the selection of committee members. The public comment period, typically 20 days, will last until August 19. (Click here to submit public comment to the National Academy of Sciences.)
The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission requested the study because the largest undeveloped uranium deposit in the U.S. is located in Pittsylvania County in Southside Virginia. The Coles Hill deposit, as it is known, could singlehandedly fuel Virginia’s nuclear generated electricity for more than 65 years, and America’s for almost 3 years. Developing the deposit would have a significant impact on America’s dependence on foreign sources of uranium. The U.S. currently imports more than 85% of our nuclear fuel from foreign countries, including roughly one-third from the Russian government. Virginia actually imports 100% of the uranium the state uses to generate 40% of its electricity supply.
The Coles Hill project would also bring significant economic development and jobs to the struggling Southside economy. Manufacturing layoffs and plant closings have obliterated Southside’s economy for years, resulting in the lowest unemployment levels in the entire state. A recent economic analysis by Lyntek Inc. determined that mining and milling the Coles Hill deposit would create 250-350 temporary construction jobs for up to 12 months and 300-350 permanent jobs for the entire duration of the project.
The report found that the project would produce as much as $50 million of direct economic activity each year in the form of salaries and purchases of local products and services. Lyntek reported that a typical mining project will also stimulate an indirect economic impact as much as six times the amount of direct activity. This includes all the purchases of local goods and services by employees and additional hiring by contractors and suppliers working on the mining project.
In 1982, the Virginia General Assembly placed a moratorium on uranium mining in the Commonwealth until proper regulations and a formal permitting process were put in place. However, because of the decline of the nuclear industry in the early 1980s interest in mining Coles Hill subsided, and the General Assembly never wrote the necessary regulations or lifted the moratorium.
Seeing a global resurgence of nuclear energy and a growing need for a domestic supply of uranium for nuclear fuel, in 2007 the families that own the land where the deposit is found, along with dozens of local investors, formed Virginia Uranium Inc. to once again develop the vast resource.
Before the project can move forward, the Virginia General Assembly would need to lift the moratorium and develop a regulatory and permitting framework. The National Academy study will make recommendations to the General Assembly on how to ensure the protection of public health and the environment from uranium mining operations. A 1984 independent study also requested by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission found that Coles Hill could be developed without adversely impacting public health or the environment. However, the Commission wants the NAS to take a fresh look that focuses on the entire state.
Extensive studies of uranium mining in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Texas by the Director of the International Epidemiology Institute, John Boice Jr., recorded virtually no difference in cancer prevalence or mortality rates between communities surrounding mining activity and non-mining communities. The Academy will likely draw on these studies and other research to determine what safeguards must be in place to ensure safe operations and minimal environmental impact.
