Clean Energy Insight - Moving Energy Forward

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Clean Energy Insight has tried to follow the issue of uranium mining in Pittsylvania County, VA for about a year now.  Mike Bloom and I (Co-Creators of this website) both grew up in the area and are hoping that safe uranium mining can offer a much-needed economic boost.  As the debate continues, local newspapers like the Chatham Star-Tribune, the Danville Register and Bee, and the Martinsville Bulletin have published great op-eds regarding the issue that are all worthy of a read.

Recently, the head of the prestigious Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, H.L. Dodds wrote an informative letter-to-the-editor of the Star-Tribune regarding some of the misinformation on the issue being spread by anti-uranium mining activists. 

Dodds does a tremendous service to the people of the Piedmont region by offering an open and honest dismissal of some of the scare tactics that local anti-uranium mining activists have pushed on them.

Despite the intellectually dishonest anti-uranium mining campaigns, Piedmont residents are looking forward to the completion of the recently commissioned National Academy of Sciences study on the safety of the uranium mining plans as covered by groups like the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance.

Enjoy the letter from an industry expert.  (For more information on uranium mining in the Commonwealth of Virginia, see - http://www.virginiauranium.com/)

Putting uranium mining ‘misinformation’ to rest

By H.L. DODDS
Tuesday, May 18, 2010 4:56 PM EDT

As someone who has devoted my professional career to the scientific and academic pursuit of nuclear energy, I am disconcerted by the misinformation being spread by opponents of uranium mining in Virginia to stoke unwarranted fears among residents.

As Virginia examines whether to allow uranium mining, I believe it is important that citizens and policymakers have the best information available to make their decision. This is why I feel compelled to respond and put some of this misinformation to rest.

Contrary to the false assertions of some mining opponents, there is no institution better suited than the National Academy of Sciences to assess the human health and environmental impact of uranium mining in Virginia.

Residents of the state - from the Southside region to Hampton Roads - should have full trust and confidence in the National Academy as the nation’s most prestigious and respected body for scientific and technical research.

For more than a century, the National Academy has maintained an unimpeachable record for impartiality and independence from influence.

Virginia residents should also rest assured that uranium mining and milling is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the United States.

The industry, which has made great strides in the past few decades to improve protection of the environment, human health and worker safety, is overseen by a veritable alphabet soup of regulatory bodies - the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Environmental Protection Agency, Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, to name a few.

These agencies are vigilant in enforcing their strict standards for radiation protection, air and water contamination, tailings management and worker safety.

For example, the maximum level of radiation exposure allowed by these regulators in areas surrounding uranium mines is equivalent to a small fraction - less than 10 percent - of the natural background radiation we all receive each year from our environment, homes and routine medical procedures.

A single abdominal x-ray would expose someone to five times the amount of radiation allowed by the EPA and NRC for uranium mining operations.

As the U.S. Secretary of Energy and Nobel laureate Stephen Chu stated unequivocally in Pittsylvania County several months ago, modern uranium mining can be done safely and in an environmentally responsible way.

There is a large body of evidence and numerous studies which have found no link between uranium mining and the incidence of cancer and other illnesses in surrounding populations.

Several studies of uranium mining and milling communities in Texas, New Mexico and Colorado conducted by John D. Boice Jr., scientific director of the National Epidemiological Institute, found virtually no difference between cancer mortality rates in mining areas versus non-mining areas.

Opponents of mining have consistently and recklessly raised anxiety among local farmers and residents by perpetuating myths about mining activities contaminating local groundwater and agriculture with harmful levels of radiation.

These myths are based on a fundamental lack of understanding of basic science and should be put to rest once and for all.

Contrary to their assertions, it would be virtually impossible for radon gas - a byproduct of uranium - to travel distances far enough and in quantities large enough to contaminate the vegetation, air and water of areas surrounding mining activities.

The elementary physics of radon gas prevent this from happening. Because radon gas is seven times heavier than air, it impossible for it to escape more than a few feet above ground and certainly to travel distances further than a few hundred feet.

This is why radon is usually found in the basements of homes because it is too heavy to climb the stairs to the first floor.

Cherry-picking and misappropriating pieces of scientific studies to prove dubious claims is a favorite pastime of anti-nuclear advocates.

So, recent attempts to misrepresent and conflate the results of an ecological study of coal mining in West Virginia with uranium mining in Virginia should come as no surprise.

The most elementary grasp of the methods, geology, geographic location, environmental footprint and scale of the two vastly different kinds of mining would prevent any responsible person from making such a spurious comparison.

The people of Virginia - particularly those living in Southside and Hampton Roads - deserve much better.

Finally, although I now live in Tennessee, I lived in the Hampton Roads area in the 1960s while working for NASA. The area is a wonderful place to live and will continue to be so with modern day uranium mining.

H. L. Dodds is IBM professor and head of the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn.

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You may have read on Clean Energy Insight before about the Coles Hill, Virginia uranium deposit.  Pittsylvania County, Virginia is known for its tobacco farms, but it’s also home to the largest untapped uranium deposit in the United States.  Currently, the National Academy of Sciences is conducting an 18 month study to determine the effects that uranium mining will have on the area.

Despite an objective study currently being done to determine if uranium mining can be done safely at Coles Hill, there has been some opposition from a small group of people in Southwest Virginia.  Some anti-uranium mining groups from other states have even come in and attempted to organize opposition based on fear tactics and baseless myths.

The Virginia Energy Independence Alliance has put together a great video dispelling some of the myths being put out there by radical opposition groups.

Myth 1: There is no established need for uranium in the United States. The US exports most of its uranium.

Myth 2: Uranium test drilling at Coles Hill is leading to lead contamination in local wells.

Myth 3: Uranium has never been safely mined. Especially, in a temperate environment like that of Southwest Virginia.

Myth 4: Problems from uranium mining in Navajo communities in the 1950’s will happen again if uranium mining were started in Southwest Virginia.

Thanks to VEIA for the great video, and I hope there are more to come.  Enjoy.

Learn The Facts About Uranium from Jason Phillips on Vimeo.

( By Carrington Dillon ) [Approx. Read Time: 2 minutes]

Last night I was invited to join the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance’s fan page on Facebook.  After checking out their notes page, I had to write about this article that I found in there.  Robert Bodnar, Professor of Geochemistry, from the greatest University in the United States–Virginia Tech, was recently quoted as saying that the Coles Hill Uranium deposit located in Southwest Virginia presents a “golden opportunity for the state, and specifically Southside Virginia.”  Professor Bodnar is currently researching the site.  As you can see from his research, he is interested in Geochemistry and fluid flow through geological deposits.  Personally, I feel that his expertise is a great match for some of the concerns raised by environmental groups in Virginia and elsewhere about the mining opportunity there.  Here is a link to the article and the excerpt from the VEIA’s Facebook news blog:

“The largest untapped uranium deposit in the U.S. found in Pittsylvania County represents a “golden opportunity for the state, and specifically Southside Virginia, to serve as the main source of [nuclear] fuel domestically and worldwide,” according to Virginia Tech professor Robert Bodnar. Professor Bodnar’s remarks appeared in an article about the uranium deposit, known as Coles Hill, in July’s Virginia Business.

Garry Kranz extolls the economic benefits the development of the deposit would bring for the ailing economy of Southside Virginia. Mining and milling the deposit would create as many as 500 new jobs with average salaries of $68,000, generate millions in annual local tax revenues and stimulate related local industries.

“Contained beneath Pittsylvania County’s loamy soil, a mere whisper from the burgs of Gretna and Chatham, lies the largest undeveloped uranium deposit known in the U.S. Estimated at nearly 120 million tons of ore, its economic impact on Virginia would be profound — were it ever to be mined.”

The Coles Hill deposit contains an estimated 120 million pounds of uranium ore, enough to fuel Virginia’s exisiting nuclear power demand for 65 years. Nuclear power currently generates almost 40% of Virginia’s electricity supply. While a 25-year-old moratorium on uranium mining and milling is preventing the development of this massive resource, the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission has tasked the National Academy of Sciences to conduct an 18-month, $1.2 million study that will make recommendations to the General Assembly as it considers whether to lift the moratorium. The National Academy of Sciences study is set to commence soon and will examine the human health and safety, environmental and socio-economic impacts of uranium mining in Virginia.”

One of the issues that Clean Energy Insight is supporting at the moment is the opportunity to mine the biggest Uranium deposit in US history in Pittsylvania County, VA (www.virginiauranium.com).  Two of the people on our team are from this area and have seen the tens of thousands of jobs that have been lost during their lifetimes in the textile and furniture industries.  By mining this deposit in Southwest Virginia, we can provide high-paying jobs and energy for our future.  It sounds like a good idea to me.

Aaron Ruby of the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance (www.virginiaenergy.org) has submitted a letter to CEI to provide more information on this issue.  Thanks a lot, Aaron.

America is too dependent on foreign uranium

The Virginia Energy Independence Alliance has a solution

America is too dependent on foreign sources of uranium.  The Virginia Energy Independence Alliance (VEIA)—a broad-based coalition of more than 500 concerned citizens, industries, associations and academia from across Virginia and beyond—wants to develop Virginia’s abundant, untapped uranium supply to break America’s dependence.

Nuclear energy supplies 20% of America’s electricity and 37% of Virginia’s.  Nuclear energy is cheaper than wind and solar, cleaner than coal, oil and natural gas, and the most efficient energy source in the world—bar none.

While America and Virginia are undergoing a nuclear renaissance that promises to vastly expand our nuclear power generation, America is increasingly dependent on unreliable foreign countries for our supply of nuclear fuel.  How could this possibly make sense? America imports 92% of the uranium we use each year to fuel nuclear energy.  Virginia imports 100%.  Where do we get our uranium?

We import anywhere from 30%-50% of our uranium from Russia.  By 2013, all the uranium we import from Russia will come from the Kremlin-run uranium enrichment company, Techsnabexport.  How will America fuel our nuclear power if the Kremlin cuts off our supply of uranium - as it did to Eastern Europe’s natural gas supply in early 2009?  This dependence is dangerous, and puts our national security and future energy supply at risk.

One solution to our dependence is right under our feet in Southside Virginia’s Pittsylvania County.  Pittsylvania County is home to the largest untapped uranium deposit in the United States.  The Coles Hill deposit—as it is known—could contain enough uranium to supply Virginia’s current nuclear power demand for the next 65 years.

As one of the most economically distressed regions of the Country, with unemployment reaching almost 15% in some areas, Southside Virginia desperately needs economic opportunity.  Mining and milling the deposit will create as many as 500 new, local jobs, generate millions in local tax dollars each year and stimulate job creation in other related local industries.<

A decades-old moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia is the only obstacle standing in the way of developing this vital resource and reaping its abundant rewards.  Fortunately, science is on our side.  Modern nuclear energy and uranium mining are safe.  The National Academy of Sciences is conducting an 18-month study of uranium mining in Virginia that will lead the way to energy independence and 500 new jobs in Southside Virginia.

To find more information and join the VEIA, visit their Web site, www.virginiaenergy.org.  You may also show your support by signing the VEIA petition at www.virginiaenergy.org/support-the-cause/sign-the-petition or by joining the Virginia Energy Independence Alliance Facebook fan page.

The solutions to our challenges are right under our feet - right here in Virginia.  Let’s use them to cure America’s dependence on foreign energy.

American Energy Independence from Jason Phillips on Vimeo.