Uranium mining risk to local water supply 'zero,' report says

The risk to Virginia Beach's water supply, part of which cocoal particle size for power plantmes from Lake Gaston, as well as other users downstream from a proposed uranium mine and mill in Pittsylvania County is "effectively zero," a study released last week concludes. Virginia Uranium Inc. commissioned the report, which involved a technical review of a Virginia Beach study released in February that claimed uranium mining and milling would imperil the city's water supply.

The $437,000 Virginia Beach study was done by the Michael Baker Corp., a professional engineering and consulting firm based in Pittsburgh, Pa. After the Virginia Beach report was released, Virginia Uranium asked its own consulting firm, Kleinfelder West Inc. of Albuquerque, N.M., to conduct a technical review of the study. Kleinfelder concluded that Baker's study was "unrealistic" and "caused unjustified alarm." Among the most glaring flaws in the Virginia Beach study, the review said, was the location of containment cells for tailings - radioactive waste rock left after the uranium is removed. The Baker study assumed a tailings impoundment would be in the flood plain adjacent to the river channel, which is not possible under federal regulations, Kleinfelder noted...