URANIUM MINING the facts

We voted for a Labor govt (mainly to depose the Howard regime).

The following article is important, as we are already getting false information about developing nuclear power.  The Rudd govt has categorically ruled out any such development; we need to ensure it holds to this ideal.

 Mining                                                       from The Greens Website - ta

It doesn't make sense, not on economic grounds, not on social grounds, and definitely not on environmental grounds. The deeper you look into it - the worse it gets.

Poor economics

Some commentators have spuriously argued that uranium is a 'low-emission' fuel. This, combined with generally high commodity prices, meant that uranium prices soared in 2007 to over US$130/pound. But along with most other resources, those prices have tumbled. Uranium oxide in 2009 is selling for around $40/pound, the same price as three years ago, shown by this graph

http://www.uxc.com/review/uxc_graph_u3o8_2yr.gif

(More information is at The Ux Consulting Company)

Hidden costs: energy and water

The mining and processing of uranium ore takes large amounts of both energy and water, particularly in the mining and refining stages. The Olymic Dam mine presently uses 12 GL/yr of water from the Great Artesian Basin; plans for expasion may take that to 48 GL/yr, beyond the capacity of the GAB, and requiring other sources including a coastal desalination plant with pipeline to the mine. Olymic Dam also consumes 10% of South Australia's base-load power; plans for expansion are yet to identify where an additional 300 MWe will come from. CO2 emissions currently top 1 million tonne per year; this may increase to over 4Mt/yr if expansion goes ahead (Australian Uranium Association).

Dangers in the Mining Process

Mining uranium has a particular safety issue unlike any of the other metals currently mined in Mt Isa. All forms of uranium are unstable radioactive isotopes. This means that they spontaneously undergoe fission reactions, breaking into two or more particles, and in the process may become totally different elements. One of those unstable elements is radon, a heavy gas that becomes trapped within the ore body over millennia. Uranium mining releases this deadly, cancer-causing radioactive gas. It is not dust, it can't be filtered out. Just like other gases such as oxygen or nitrogen, it passes straight through breathing masks. But because it is radioactive, once it has been breathed deep into a miner's lungs it can undergoe nuclear decay and turn back into radioactive uranium or other radioactive metals. Once this occurs, the chance of radiation-induced cancer becomes very great. In the US, radon gas just from indirect sources has been identified as the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsW9ouAsKfk , http://www.prlog.org/10175781-radon-gas-identified-as-the-second-leading-cause-of-lung-cancer.html , http://www.epa.gov/radon/)

Plans by both Labor and the LNP to mine uranium mean that the 150 workers in the mine planned for Mt Isa will be directly exposed to the deadly gas. If people in their homes are exposed to dangerous levels of radon, what about miners bathed in radon in underground mines? Their families and the Mt Isa community will also be affected. The record in other countries is far worse than we have seen in Australia (see Uranium: Wealth or Woe?). People in uranium mining areas can ingest up to 18 times more uranium than people in the general population. Increased levels of uranium are linked to bone cancer, kidney cancer and lung cancer, among others (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/).

Dangers to the Community

Beyond the very real issue of radon gas, the deliberate or accidental release of radioactive and toxic materials into the local environment is a very real concern, especially from tailings dams (Uranium mine water leak concerning, govt says, Polluted water leaking into Kakadu from uranium mine, Beverley Uranium Mine , Contaminated water shuts Rio uranium mine). Radioactive dust can also be blown across towns near mine operations.

Enrichment

The majority of current nuclear reactors require a specific uranium radioisotope to function, U235. Uranium ore contains an array of radioisotopes, only 0.72% of which is U235. Uranium must therefore be 'enriched' to increase the relative amount of usable U235, typically to 3-5%. This means that to obtain 1kg of enriched uranium fuel requires 4.2kg of uranium to be 'thrown away'. Typically it becomes 'depleted uranium', a weapon of mass disease that should be outlawed (see Blowin' in the wind). Uranium is not known to be currently enriched in Australia, but there appear to be plans by either the ALP or LNP to start-up this dangerous industry (Uranium enrichment plans on discussion table with Fed Govt , Enriching uranium could impoverish regional security , Russian environmentalists unite against uranium shipments from Australia).

Some links


Film - a hard rain
www.frontlinefilms.com.au/videos/hardrain.htm
Film - Blowin' in the wind
http://www.bsharp.net.au/
ACF calls for a ban on uranium mining
http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=2158
Medical Association for Prevention of War
http://www.mapw.org.au/
International Physicians For The Prevention of Nuclear War
http://www.ippnw.org/
Dr Helen Caldicott
http://www.helencaldicott.com/index.htm
Friends of the Earth
http://www.foe.org.au/anti-nuclear/overview