Friday, August 10, 2007
Aug. 9, 2007 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
The future of uranium min?ing in New Mexico will be dis?cussed this evening at a public meeting in Albuquerque hosted by officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Several uranium exploration permits have been approved by the state of New Mexico, and the spot price of uranium -- $110 a pound this week -- continues to drive renewed interest about the mineral used to fuel nuclear power plants around the world.
Supporters of more mining in New Mexico point to the posi?tives of nuclear power and say new regulations can protect the environment and workers from contamination.
But opponents say the kind of mining to be discussed this evening -- in situleach recovery -- say the process will forever contaminate New Mexico's precious water where the mining occurs and could travel to contaminate other areas.
In situleach mining involves drilling wells into an aquifer, adding oxygen and pumping the water through the uranium ore belt. The water is removed from the uranium at the sur?face.
New Mexico has produced more uranium than any other state and has an estimated 600 million pounds of reserves, among the highest in the coun?try. But conventional miningduring the Cold War -- digging it out of the ground -- resulted in worker and environmental contamination in places such as Western New Mexico. In fact, the Navajo Nation has moved to ban uranium mining on its ter?ritory.
But nuclear power plants are going up in China and India, and the market demand is strong, said John Indall, a Santa Fe lawyer who repre?sents the Uranium Producers of America.
'There's still a supply and demand imbalance, and it's going to require a lot of production to meet the needs of all the new plants,' he said.
Nuclear Regulatory Commis?sion officials will discuss and take input for a general envi?ronmental impact statement this evening.
This impact statement 'is intended to cover general issues that are common to anyin siturecovery operation,' spokesman David McIntyre of the NRC said.
Examples include groundwa?ter remediation and monitoring the area to make sure contami?nationdoes not spread to otherwater sources.
'The standards and regula?tions have changed dramati?cally, and ... I think under cur?rent regulations and current standards, one can operate safely for the workers, the pub?lic and the environment,' Indall said.
Eric Jantz of the New MexicoEnvironmental Law Center disagrees. 'It contaminates groundwater,' Jantz said. 'Irre?vocably. Permanently.'
Jantz also said tonight's meeting may be one of the few opportunities for any sort of rigorous environmental review. And the process of a general environmental impact state?ment can fast-track specific license applications, he said.
'It will end up saving the mining companies a lot of money at the expense of a rigorous environmental analy?sis and public input,' he said.
McIntyre of the NRC, how?ever, said a supplemental impact statement could be pro?duced for individual sites.
Contact Andy Lenderman at 986-3073 or alenderman@sfnewmexican.
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