We had a comment posted to the Tornadoes and Uranium Mine on SCC's blog item that gave us pause with its interesting thoughts:

"It's also worth examining the dangerous weather generated by remnants of major hurricanes. The flash flooding, high winds, etc., are in addition to the prospect of tornadoes spawned by such tropical weather systems. Mining experts will (or should) concede that environmental management and risk would be a significant concern which would need to be addressed if such an operation were proposed for an area in Virginia with a history of severe weather. Even then, would the bonds be nearly adequate enough for the potential weather-related disasters? Would anyone be held legally liable for an act of nature?"

I'm not sure how these situations would be handled but on April 22, 2008, Karen of SCC sent the following link and question to the Virginia Dept of Emergency Management:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----- Original Message -----

From: karen

To: pio@vdem.state.va.us

Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 2:17 PM

Subject: Radiological_Information_for_Farmers_and_Growers

http://www.vdes.state.va.us/threats/radiological/Radiological_Information_for_Farmers_and_Growers.pdf

I found the above link on line. In the event that mining and milling of uranium occurs in Virginia, would these same precautions and procedures be followed in the event of migration of radioactive tailings offsite of an industrial facility through air or water in a catastrophic event?

Karen ____

XXX XXXXX Rd.

Danville, VA 245XX

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To date, she's not gotten a response although she has again submitted the question to VDEM with the message "Please note this was originally sent on 4/22/08. Your response will aid in decision- making in Southside Virginia".

I agree with Karen that we should all take a look at the link she send to VDEM. It's a .pdf file and needs Adobe Reader to open it. You probably have Adobe on your computer but in case you don't, go here to download one:

http://adobe.8-1pdf.com/index.asp?aff=100&camp=google_areader_us&se=google

Here are some excerpts...I really encourage you to take a look at the whole report, keeping in mind what you know about tailings and radon contamination. Any italics are mine.

http://www.vdes.state.va.us/threats/radiological/Radiological_Information_for_Farmers_and_Growers.pdf

In an Emergency, Who Will Provide Advice

This information provides general advice as to precautions, preparations and actions you can take. However, in a radiological emergency, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management in cooperation with the Virginia Departments of Health, Radiological Health, and Agriculture and Consumer Services, will monitor and broadcast radiation levels, dangers and recommended actions based on information gathered by radiation monitoring teams. Federal and state agencies will conduct damage assessments in potentially affected areas and will inform farmers, growers and producers of any actions, which should be undertaken. The general public will receive this information over the EAS.

Protecting Your Farm

You may be asked to shelter your farm animals and give them protected feed and water. This will help prevent contamination from harming your animals, and from later entering the human food supply.

Checking for contamination at home gardens and small-scale farms may not begin for weeks after the emergency. Homegrown produce should be tested for radioactive contamination before it is consumed. Home gardeners and small-scale farmers should wait for a field monitoring team to help them, or for further instructions from local and state agriculture and health agencies.

Sheltering Animals

If you are advised to shelter animals, remove them from pasture and house them in a farm building. You may not have enough shelter available for all of your animals, so priority should be given to your most valuable livestock. State and local emergency response agencies will have more advice for decontaminating farm animals.

Possible livestock shelters:
• Barns
• Milking parlors
• Machine sheds
• Garages
• Corncribs
• Poultry buildings

Protecting Your Crops

The following specific actions may be advised to reduce the danger of ingesting adulterated food products.

Milk

Remove all dairy animals from pasture and shelter them if possible, and provide them with protected food and water. Sampling teams from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, or the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center will come to your farm to take milk, and possibly feed and water samples, for laboratory analysis to determine whether any of these products are adulterated.

If dairy products are contaminated, it will be recommended that milk and milk products be withheld from the market. It is possible, however, for milk products contaminated with very low levels of radioactive materials to be safe for human consumption.

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services will advise as to which protective actions are appropriate.

Protecting Food Products

Food and Milk Processors, Warehouses and Commodity Terminals

Windows and vents to the outdoors should be closed. Vacuum systems should be shut down, as should compressed air systems. Any system that draws air from the outdoors to the inside should be shut down. Your facility will be notified directly by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, if the food products in your facility are affected. If samples are collected, the Department of Agriculture officials will notify you which products can be released for sale

Economics

Under the worst conditions, radioactive contamination could reduce the economic productivity of your farm. As previously mentioned, you may suffer the loss of some farm and dairy items due to contamination or spoilage during the period of time that a radiological emergency is in progress. However, following an accident, radioactive contamination might reduce the competitive economic value of your farm products. This would be due to public reluctance to purchase farm products that are suspected of having been grown in an area that has been affected by a radioactive release from a nuclear power plant or other source. State authorities will advise you on the contamination level that your farm experienced and the marketability of your farm products. An insurance pool has been established to help individuals recover from the losses caused by a radiological disaster.

Potential Sources of Radiological Emergencies

This brochure applies to peacetime emergencies resulting from fixed nuclear facility incidents (including commercial and military nuclear power reactors); transportation incidents; and other incidents, e.g., nuclear powered satellite reentry. Sabotage and terrorism are not treated as separate types of incidents; rather, they are considered a complicating dimension of the incident types noted.

Specifically, the following fixed nuclear facilities are potential sources of radiological emergencies in Virginia:

• North Anna Power Station, near the town of Mineral, Virginia;
• Surry Power Station, on Hog Island in Surry County, Virginia;
• Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, near Lusby, Maryland;
• Naval and commercial shipyards, Hampton Roads area; and
• Commercial and naval nuclear fuels plants and research reactors, near Lynchburg.

Appendix 2

Adjacent States and Jurisdictions Within 50-Mile Ingestion Pathway*

1. The Virginia Emergency Operations Center (EOC) will provide notification to affected or potentially affected jurisdictions within the ingestion pathway and adjacent states in the event of a radiological emergency occurring at the North Anna or Surry Power Stations. *The State will transmit to each local organization recommended protective measures based upon protective action guides and other criteria. This shall be consistent with the recommendations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding exposure resulting from passage of radiological airborne plumes and with other Federal recommendations regarding radioactive contamination of human foods and animal feeds.

2. The primary means for notifying adjacent states and local jurisdictions within ingestion pathway will be by commercial telephone. Virginia Criminal Information Network (VCIN) will be used to back up voice messages as appropriate. Adjacent states and local governments within the ingestion pathway are listed in Tables 1 (Surry) and 2 (North Anna).

3. The Virginia EOC will provide notification to affected or potentially affected local jurisdictions within the Virginia portion of the ingestion pathway in the event of a radiological emergency occurring at the Calvert Cliffs (Maryland) Nuclear Power Station. See Table 3 for jurisdictions to be notified.

4. Notifications will be made to local governments within the ingestion pathway when a General Emergency is declared or earlier as appropriate.

* Similar alerting procedures will be used

How safe do you feel?