Board still wrestling with possible uranium-mining study

By John Crane
Published: November 11, 2009

Staff with the National Research Council is continuing to try to determine how the agency will proceed with a possible uranium-mining study.

The National Research Council Governing Board’s Executive Committee met Tuesday in Washington to discuss the proposal for a study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in Virginia.

“Given the complexity with several institutions involved (Virginia Tech, the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission), our staff is continuing to work on how we will go about doing the study,” said Jennifer Walsh, spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences. “So far, our standard statement of task and approval process is not yet complete.”

The NRC is an arm of the NAS.

Walsh did not comment further when asked about details regarding the study and when the next executive committee meeting will be held.

Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. VUI, through Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research, would pay for the study’s first phase focusing on the technical and public-safety aspects of mining.

That first phase would cost as much as $1.4 million. Virginia Tech’s Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research would handle the money and contract with the NAS for the study. The second part of the study, dealing with the socioeconomic aspects of mining, still needs to be developed by the Virginia Coal & Energy Commission. VUI would not fund the second part.

If the governing board approves the study request, the next step would be the NRC negotiating and entering into a contract with Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research. The board would then appoint a provisional committee of about a dozen scientific experts to perform the study and write its report.

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/board_still_wrestling_with_possible_uranium-mining_study/15446/

NRC committee to meet to discuss uranium study

The National Research Council governing board’s executive committee will meet next month to discuss the study that would determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in Virginia.

The meeting will take place Nov. 10 in Washington and will be closed to the public, said Jennifer Walsh, spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences.

Walsh said she does not know if the committee will decide during next month’s meeting whether to approve the study.

Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. VUI, through Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research, would pay for the study’s first phase focusing on the technical and public-safety aspects of mining.

That first phase would cost as much as $1.4 million. Virginia Tech’s Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research would handle the money and contract with the NAS for the study. The second part of the study, dealing with the socioeconomic aspects of mining, still needs to be developed by the Virginia Coal & Energy Commission. VUI would not fund the second part.

If the governing board approves the study request, the next step would be the NRC negotiating and entering into a contract with Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research. The board would then appoint a provisional committee of about a dozen scientific experts to perform the study and write its report.

There will be public comment regarding the makeup of the committee, William Kearney, NRC spokesman, said last month.

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/nrc_committee_to_meet_to_discus_uranium_study/15011/

Virginia Energy Resources Inc. Corporate (Investor) Presentation

You really need to read this. There are lots of pictures and graphs...it's not a difficult read. But it sure is an interesting one. Everything is falling into place just like dominoes, for Santoy/VERI, VUI, Va Tech, and all investors. There's plenty of space for tailings and a uranium mill. Tech is offering all sorts of student work experiences. It's amazing, actually, to read just how well, and how quickly, things are moving toward mining. It's as though nothing can possibly get in the way. We are fighting a HUGE machine here...one that's well-organized, well-oiled, and well-funded. When will the rest of the state wake up? It's imperative that Southside have the rest of the Commonwealth behind it in this fight. It's enormity has never been better presented than it is here:

http://www.santoy.ca/i/pdf/CorporatePresentation.pdf

Conflict of Interest [re: study funding]

Caswell Messenger
Oct 06, 2009 - 06:25:03 pm CDT

To the editor:

I think it's a bit disingenuous for Dr. Karmis, the Director of the Virginia Center for Coal & Energy Research at Virginia Tech and a professor in its Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering to say Tech's nuclear engineering program has "nothing to do with Coles Hill."

Professors and graduate students of Virginia Tech's Departments of Geosciences and Hydrogeosciences have already been on-site at Coles Hill performing various studies and tests on the unmined uranium ore body. According to Dr. Robert J. Bodnar, a professor with Tech's Geosciences Department: "All of these studies are telling us something about the subsurface - the rocks, when the rock type changes, where the major faults are. All those pieces of information are critical to understanding the ore deposit as it exists today, and that will be very useful information as the company [VUI] starts to develop the deposit in the future." ("Beneath the Surface, Virginia Tech conducts research at Coles Hill" by T. Davis, Star-Tribune, Sept. 10, 2008. Online source: www.virginiauranium.com/pdf/Beneath_the_Surface.pdf )

Clearly Virginia Tech's studies at Coles Hill are contributing to the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, the mining and milling of uranium.

Dr. Karmis is also well aware of the ongoing "nuclear renaissance" where the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear power production, is being promoted by nuclear power companies like Areva to have more nuclear power plants built. This, according to nuclear power proponents, is to offset the country's growing energy needs and dependence on fossil fuels. Areva, Dominion Power and Oakridge National Laboratories are working with southeastern universities like Virginia Tech to help meet the goal of training more nuclear engineers to run the planned nuclear power plants.

Let's not forget a "nuclear renaissance" would also benefit VUI in creating the need for more uranium. Increasing the "need" will raise the price of uranium and make it profitable to mine the ore body at Coles Hill.

Finally, Dr. Karmis' statement that nuclear engineers "don't care where uranium comes from" may be true, but Tech's having a domestic supply of uranium ore in its back yard, would complement its nuclear engineering program in no small measure. The waste management aspect (tailings, holding ponds and long-term storage, e.g., Superfund planning), I suspect, would turn up in Virginia Tech's curriculum.

As much as I admire Virginia Tech, for it is a fine institution of learning, I see a clear conflict of interest in its "implementing" the money VUI will pay to the NAS to perform a "research study."

Anne Cockrell
Danville, Virginia

http://www.caswellmessenger.com/articles/2009/10/06/opinion/opinion02.txt

Funding the study

Money-laundering and political incest...

Danville Register & Bee

To the editor:

OK, let’s get this straight. Virginia Uranium Inc. wants studies that might indicate uranium mining and milling is good business and is safe for Virginia’s citizens. It also wants the National Academy of Sciences to conduct at least one of the studies.

The Virginia General Assembly voted not to fund such a study two years ago. Virginia Uranium Inc. persisted and apparently convinced the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission to do its bidding. The VCEC formed a uranium mining subpanel.

With the aid of Michael Karmis of Virginia Tech’s Mining and Minerals Engineering Department/Director of Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research Center, a study’s scope was determined and Karmis began communication with the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council. At present, no one can or will fund the NAS study but VUI.

The National Academy of Sciences will not accept VUI’s offer to pay because it does not perform its services for private industry. So Virginia Tech will take VUI’s money and give it to the NAS. The National Academy of Sciences will do the study for private industry as long as the industry does not pass the money directly to them? A “blind eye” kind of thing, I suppose.

Does this seem akin to money laundering? If NAS gets “besmirched,” they will have done it to themselves. Virginia Tech appears to be an accomplice. At this point, if the state offers to pay for a study, it looks like a disingenuous offer with those supporting it seemingly subjects of tampering. If citizens question the process, the get called “silly!” VUI has managed to make everyone look bad.

Without mining the first shovel of uranium Virginia Uranium, Inc. is already tearing at the fabric of Virginia and polluting our government institutions and causing deep divisions in the citzenry. If for no other reason than to protect the Commonwealth's integrity, uranium mining should be banned. Unfortunately, we stand to lose more if we mine and mill uranium. Why risk Virginians’ health, heritage, agricultural and tourism industry, future economic opportunities, clean air and water for a boom-bust uranium mine? To allow this, as Karmis might opine, would be “silly.”

KAREN B. MAUTE

Mount Cross

Note: The R&B chose to omit the follwing from Ms. Maute's original letter: "Without mining the first shovel of uranium Virginia Uranium, Inc. is already tearing at the fabric of Virginia and polluting our government institutions and causing deep divisions in the citzenry. If for no other reason than to protect the Commonwealth's integrity, uranium mining should be banned."

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/danville_letters/article/funding_the_study/14385/

This is the editorial that prompted Ms. Maute's letter:

Editorial: No conflict at Tech

A nuclear engineering program at Virginia Tech shouldn't impact its involvement in uranium study.

There is ample reason to be disappointed in, and wary of, the planned study of uranium mining safety in Virginia -- most notably the fact that the corporation wanting to do that mining is paying for the study.

But it is wrong to allege, as some critics of the study have, that Virginia Tech has a conflict of interest in its assigned role of managing the money and coordinating with the National Academy of Sciences on the study.

Anne Cockrell, a Danville resident and member of the mining opposition group Southside Concerned Citizens, said Tech's nuclear engineering program poses a conflict of interest.

"Tech's having a domestic supply of uranium ore in its back yard would complement its nuclear engineering program in no small measure," she wrote in a recent e-mail. She repeated the charge in a commentary in the Chatham Star Tribune.

In an interview with the Danville News, Michael Karmis, director of Tech's Center for Coal and Energy Research, called that argument "silly."

Tech is not revitalizing its nuclear engineering program because of the possibility that there may be a local source of uranium available. Rather, the move is in response to a growing demand for nuclear energy and the upcoming retirement of a generation of nuclear engineers.

There are serious reasons to doubt the safety and feasibility of mining and processing uranium in Virginia's damp climate and in a location near population centers.

For appearances' sake, it would have been far better for the state to have paid for the study. The corporation that could mine as much as $10 billion worth of uranium from the Coles Hill site has a clear vested interest in the outcome of the study, and should not be involved.

But no one else stepped up with the money, and the state isn't exactly flush with cash.

The safeguards in place -- including Tech's management of the funds -- seem sufficient to ensure that the study is not biased by its funding.

Certainly, the National Academy of Sciences will not trade its reputation in exchange for a $1.2 million study.

Based on the available evidence, Tech doesn't deserve to have its reputation besmirched, either.

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/wb/221135

Letter: Consider the Sources

by Letter to the editor

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Regarding the letter "Nuclear engineering graphic bombs," (CT, Sept. 22) by alumni Eric Danner and J. Carrington Dillon, the Collegiate Times staff and your readers should know what motivated the authors to criticize that ingenious and appropriate graphic.

Danner and Dillon are employed by AREVA, a multi-billion-dollar, multinational mega-corporation primarily owned by the French government. According to its corporate Web site, AREVA, with its uranium mines and uranium processing plants, is "ranked first in the global nuclear power industry." Danner and Dillon's AREVA job descriptions also include creating and managing Clean Energy Insight (www.cleanenergyinsight.org), a propaganda tool for the nuclear industry.

And, of course, Danner and Dillon are supporters of the planned uranium mine in Pittsylvania County, which would be the first of many in eastern Virginia, bringing devastation to the environment and human communities throughout the region and beyond. And AREVA and Virginia Tech stand to make millions off the deal.

So, what kind of corporate footprint does AREVA have on the environment and human communities where it operates? According to Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), the humanitarian news and analysis service of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in Niger, mining operations owned and operated by AREVA in partnership with the Nigerian government have contaminated the air, soil and water, resulting in sickness and death for local residents and depleting regional groundwater supplies.

And the Paris-based Commission for Independent Research and Information on Radioactivity, which specializes in the analysis of radioactivity in the environment, found "serious lapses" in and near AREVA mining sites in Niger. In 2005, CRIIRAD environmental studies found water radiation levels in mining communities up to 110 times higher than the World Health Organization safe drinking water standards for industrial areas. You can read about AREVA's mining impacts in Niger at www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=83706.

Uranium mining corporations profit from environmental devastation and human suffering wherever they operate. Eric Danner and J. Carrington Dillon are a couple of their minions. Consider the source.

Shireen Pansoms
Va. community organizer
Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund
Christiansburg, Va.

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/14307

Virginia Tech rejects conflict of interest allegations in uranium study

What did we expect Va Tech to say? "Oh, snap...how did we miss that"?

By John Crane

Published: September 30, 2009

The director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research says its role to administer funding for a uranium mining study poses no conflict of interest.

At least one mining opponent contends Virginia Tech stands to benefit from the excavation of uranium at Coles Hill by expanding its nuclear engineering program.

“… (Virginia) Tech’s having a domestic supply of uranium ore in its backyard would complement its nu-clear engineering program in no small measure,” said Anne Cockrell, a Danville resident and member of Southside Concerned Citizens, a group that opposes uranium mining, via e-mail Wednesday.

During an interview Wednesday, Michael Karmis, director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research, called Cockrell’s allegations “a very silly argument.” The nuclear engineering program at the school has nothing to do with Coles Hill, Karmis said.

A lack of engineering capabilities in the work force to run nuclear power plants and nuclear programs at military bases is prompting schools like Virginia Tech to revive their engineering departments, Karmis said. Industries did not hire engineers in the 80s and 90s, leaving a generation gap among nuclear and other types of engineers, Karmis said. Nuclear engineering has become almost extinct and engineers about to retire need to be replaced, he said. In addition, demand for nuclear power is increasing, he said.

“That’s what the universities are responding to,” Karmis said.

Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Virginia currently has a moratorium on uranium mining. Delegate Terry Kilgore, head of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission, sent a written request in August to the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, to conduct the study. NRC officials say the proposed study is worth pursuing.

Mining supporters say an operation at Coles Hill would bring economic benefits to Southside and supply hundreds of jobs. Opponents believe the project would destroy the environment and threaten public health in Pittsylvania County.

Cockrell said the nuclear-power industry, including Areva, Dominion Power and Oakridge National Laboratories, is working with schools like Virginia Tech to help train more nuclear engineers to run planned nuclear-power plants. Also, Cockrell said professor and graduate students of Virginia Tech’s departments of geosciences and hydrogeosciences have conducted on-site studies and tests of unmined uranium at Coles Hill.

“Clearly Virginia Tech’s studies at Coles Hill are contributing to the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, the mining and milling of uranium,” Cockrell said in her e-mail.

William Kearney, a spokesman for the NRC, said the organization operates independently of sponsors, who have no role in the study’s results

“Nobody knows the outcome of the study which hasn’t even started,” Kearney said of opponents’ allega-tions. “The study still needs to be approved by our governing board.”

Kearney said the NRC’s governing board will likely discuss the study request at the board’s regular meeting this month or in November. In the meantime, NRC staff will prepare a prospectus, or study proposal, that will include a scope, timeline, likely costs and sponsorship, Kearney said. The board would review the prospectus before deciding whether to approve the request.

The study’s first portion would cost $1.2-$1.4 million. Virginia Tech’s Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research will handle the money and work with the NAS for the study. The second part of the study, dealing with the socioeconomic aspects of mining, still needs to be worked out by the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission. VUI will not fund the second part.

Katie Whitehead, a member of the Dan River Basin Association, said a detailed draft contract should be open to the public.

“A draft contract with details regarding such things as financial provisions, public hearings, interim reports, and release of information needed for the socioeconomic study should be made available for public comment,” Whitehead said in a statement. “For transparency, a meeting to explain the draft contract and take comments is essential.”

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/virginia_tech_rejects_conflict_of_interest_allegations_in_uranium_study/14270/

Nuclear grant has more to it

VA Tech Collegiate Times

by Letter to the editor

Monday, September 28, 2009; 7:41 PM

Are there really no conflicts of interests here?

According to the article "Tech receives nuclear grant" (CT, Sept. 15), Virginia Tech is slated to "implement" the money Virginia Uranium, Inc. will pay to the National Academy of Sciences for its services in performing a research study, which is to determine if uranium mining and milling can be done safely in Virginia.

Tech's newspaper, Collegiate Times, recently featured a picture of a mushroom-shaped atomic bomb blast cloud with the title "Virginia Tech's History of Nuclear Energy" with the chronological dates of the program's inception (1953), its disbanding (1990s) and its revival (2007). Strangely included are the dates of the Three Mile Island disaster in Pennsylvania (1979) and the Chernobyl disaster in Russia (1986). It also lists the $850,000 nuclear grant money (2009) received from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The article by Liana Bayne relates the NRC nuclear grant money, $850,000, which will go toward hiring new professors to "revitalize" Tech's nuclear engineering program.

Now, I shudder to think what the school's newspaper was thinking to post such a photograph, but it should cause more than an uneasy pause for the members of the NAS governing board, which is currently deliberating whether its prestigious institution should contract with Tech to do a study when the school, as the above article states, is clearly enjoying "a taste of the nuclear renaissance."

Let's recap: VUI wants to excavate an $8 billion to $10 billion uranium ore body at Coles Hill in Chatham, Va., and is the only entity that has offered to pay for the proposed NAS study. Tech wants to revitalize its nuclear engineering program and is well on track in doing so by receiving nuclear grant money ($850,000) from the NRC. (This is on top of a $300,000 grant it received last year for this program.) Tech will utilize VUI's north and south mines at Coles Hill, and its milling facility, as field laboratories for its students, which will be part of the curriculum of the nuclear engineering program. (In the past, Tech graduate students have already been on the site doing various studies on the un-mined uranium ore body at Coles Hill.) Tech will be the conduit to "implement" the estimated $1.2 million to $1.4 million VUI plans to pay NAS for doing the research study - a study it needs in order to overturn Virginia's moratorium on the mining and milling of uranium.

I have to ask, are there really no conflicts of interest here? And what does a mushroom-shaped atomic bomb blast cloud have to do with Tech's revival of its nuclear engineering program? Will NAS disregard the obvious connection between the revival of Tech's nuclear engineering program and its role to "implement" the money VUI will pay the NAS to do a research study?

Does NAS have blinders on?

Anne Cocknell [sic]
Danville, Va.

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/14276

WVTF's Weekend in Virginia Misinforms About VA Uranium Mining

Good grief! You'd think that as ensconced in Coles Hill as Va Tech is, they'd at least have the basic facts about the study right but they don't. Naturally, they don't have lots of other information right either. Frankly, this is a HUGE disservice to the citizens of VA and the supporters of VA's public radio. WVTF should be strongly encouraged to retract all of the misinformation and offer those of us with some understanding of the basic facts equal time to try to offset the damage WVTF has done.

Some of the "facts" reported are that the study has begun, that it's been paid for, that no one wanted to pay for the study within the state government (I know...sort of true, but we've been told it was a matter of no funding, not a matter of no desire) the mining will only be done in Pittsylvania Co, and the NAS is entirely professional and won't be swayed by politics or money.

Listen for yourself...and then send an email stating the correct info to Rick Mattioni, News Director, at mattioni@vt.edu or by calling him at (540) 989-8900.

To listen:

http://www.wvtf.org/news_and_notes/audio/200909211722120.0919bloggers.mp3

Uranium Mining in Pittsylvania County - 9.21.09

Our Weekend Virginia political bloggers exchange views on whether the General Assembly should lift the ban on uranium mining so a huge deposit in Pittsylvania County can be recovered.

http://www.wvtf.org/news_and_notes/weekendva.php

From Virginia Tech's college newspaper, The Collegiate Times

Naaa...there's no conflict of interest with Va Tech, VUI, NAS, the NRC and the upcoming study. They're all one big happy family!

National Research Council Agrees to [Consider] Uranium Study

By John Crane

Danville Register & Bee
Published: September 23, 2009

A National Research Council official says a formal request for a study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in Virginia is worth pursuing.

Delegate Terry Kilgore, head of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission, sent a written request to the NRC on Aug. 20. The NRC responded Sept. 8, saying the proposed study merits consideration.

“The fact that the request comes from a body created by the Virginia General Assembly … is a strong indication to us of the importance of this study to the commonwealth and one that deserves our serious attention,” wrote E. William Colglazier, chief operating officer of the NRC, in a letter to Kilgore.

The NRC is an arm of the National Academy of Sciences.

Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Virginia currently has a moratorium on uranium mining.

Mining supporters say an operation at Coles Hill would bring economic benefits to Southside and supply hundreds of jobs. Opponents believe the project would destroy the environment and threaten public health, turning Pittsylvania County into a sacrifice zone.

As for the NRC’s response, Kilgore said he thinks the study will happen.

“I get a good feeling they’re going to do it,” Kilgore said Tuesday. “I think we can expect a positive outcome.”

VUI, through Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research, will pay for the study’s first phase focusing on the technical and public-safety aspects of mining.

The study’s first portion will cost $1.2 to $1.4 million. Virginia Tech’s Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research will implement funding and will contract with the NAS for the study. Kilgore said the second part of the study, dealing with the socioeconomic aspects of mining, still needs to be worked out by the commission. VUI will not fund the second part.

William Kearney, an NRC spokesman, said the group’s Governing Board has not approved the study request, and will likely discuss it at the board’s regular meeting in October or November. In the meantime, NRC staff will prepare a prospectus, or study proposal, that will include a scope, timeline, likely costs and sponsorship, Kearney said. The board would review the prospectus before deciding whether to approve the request.

If the board approves the request, the next step would be the NRC negotiating and entering into a contract with Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research. The board would then appoint a provisional committee of about a dozen scientific experts to perform the study and write its report, Kearney said. There will be public comment regarding the makeup of the committee, Kearny said.

The committee’s members would make a site visit to Coles Hill and possibly hold a public meeting, Kearney said.

Eloise Nenon, a founding member of Southside Concerned Citizens, which opposes mining, said there needs to be citizen input during the study.

“To ignore the people makes no sense at all,” Nenon said Tuesday. The study needs local viewpoint, which is different than that of scientists from outside the area, she said.

VUI spokesman Patrick Wales praised the NRC’s response to Kilgore’s request.

“I think this is another important step in getting the nation’s preeminent independent scientific institution to evaluate this energy resource in Pittsylvania County,” Wales, a geologist with VUI, said.

http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/local/southside/article/national_research_council_agrees_to_uranium_study/49146/

A comment on outrageous doings

Bless you, Mr. Dixon...and thanks!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Chatham Star-Tribune

With the news that Virginia Uranium will pay for a study to determine the future of uranium mining in Virginia, this very major issue now moves into the realm of the absurd.

The acquiescence of the government of the commonwealth to this situation is stunning in its stupidity and bald-faced corruption.

Our elected officials have shown little judgment and even less common sense in this decision. The fate of their careers as elected officials must be in doubt.

Every state-wide representative who did not stand up to oppose this corrupt bargain has abrogated his responsibility as a guardian of the people's interest. They are unworthy of our votes and have earned our collective disdain.

I am sure the National Academy of Science is indeed a "neutral" organization through which to conduct this study, bought and paid (quiet literally) by our Canadian friends and their cadre of wealthy local and foreign investors.

The scientists at Virginia Tech would never think of the opportunity to use Pittsylvania County as a laboratory and its citizens as guinea pigs in their investigations of the affects of uranium mining on the environment east of the Mississippi.

They are responsible individuals first, and scientists second. In fact, this new relationship could be the beginning of several new National Academy/Virginia Tech studies.

Let's see what else they could do. Here's one: "The Feasibility of Bank Bailouts as a Means of Helping the Economy."

That one would be paid for by Wachovia and Bank of America. I wonder what the National Academy of Science would find?

Here's another: "The Positive or Negative Effects of Socialism in America."

That one would be funded by the American Communist Party. I am sure the folks at Virginia Tech will come up with a fair and balanced conclusion.

Finally, in the area of sports we have, "Steroids: Good or Bad for Baseball?" This one has the financial backing of Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.

I am on tenterhooks awaiting that conclusion.

Pardon my sarcasm, but I fear the deck is stacked against Pittsylvania County. Is this the sad fate that must play out over the next two decades?

The "study" will conclude that uranium mining is safe "under certain circumstances."

The fine print of the extreme conditional approval will be ignored by the uranium industry and they will embrace the study as definite "scientific" proof that all is well.

Mining regulations will move swiftly through the hapless House of Delegates; mining will begin with a flourish of heady pronouncements about employment and the economic prosperity that is headed our way.

Blasting activity will begin; tailing ponds will be dug; all will move quickly forward. Then, somewhere down the line, there will be an economic (price of uranium falls) or environmental (water ruined) catastrophe.

Government and uranium industry officials will throw up their hands and declare that no one could have foreseen this (remember Katrina?), and they are not to blame.

The mines will close; the investors will go silent and Virginia Uranium will creep back to its Canadian homeland.

By that time, the people of Virginia will be left to tend the mess that Virginia Uranium began: the two 800-foot holes in the ground; the ruined landscape, poisoned water and contaminated air.

Unemployment will rise, now that tobacco and non-mining businesses have long left the area. Taxes will rise; land values will fall.

The National Academy will assert the fine print of its study (i.e. that mining probably could not be done successfully) and the scientists at Virginia Tech will have their laboratory and guinea pigs just down the road from them in Pittsylvania County.

My father used to say that if you can't pay for something, you can't buy it. If the Commonwealth of Virginia cannot pay for a study, they should not have one.

Virginia Uranium is a biased funder; the conflict of interest is so apparent that it is embarrassing for a private citizen to have to point this out to officials who should know better.

If Virginia cannot pay now for a study of this sort, how are they going to pay for the regulation and upkeep of the area once mining begins? Where will that money come from?

Until these basic questions are answered completely, all citizens of good faith must remain opposed to any study of any kind paid for by the very people who profit from its slanted outcome.

We shall and must regard the findings of this tainted study, and the people who support it, with a cynical and suspicious eye.

Richard Dixon

Chatham

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/09/09/chatham/opinion/opinion05.txt

Richmond drops the ball, not the cash

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: September 8, 2009

Virginia’s study of uranium mining finally has the funding it needs to move forward, thanks to the only entity that ever offered to pay for it.

Virginia Uranium Inc. Chairman Walter Coles Sr. long ago said his company would pay for the state study. With the commonwealth unwilling to fund the study and no one else waving their checkbook around, VUI money was the only way to move this issue forward.

In a better world, the state government should have paid for the study. The state’s moratorium keeps VUI from mining what’s believed to be the largest untapped uranium deposit in the United States. If the study sways the General Assembly to lift the moratorium, it will be state agencies that will assume part of the responsibility for writing mining and milling regulations and ensuring that they’re enforced.

But most of all, it was in the state’s interest to allow the National Academy of Sciences to do its work without mining opponents from accusing the NAS of somehow being in the pocket of Virginia Uranium Inc.

That argument is a slap in the face of the scientists, researchers and others who will be involved in this project. It will no doubt plan a fertile seed of future debate, doubt and consternation. The state has done a cheap and foolish thing.

Compounding the problem is the NAS study probably won’t be a slam-dunk for either side. Both camps are likely to complain that certain things weren’t checked out by the National Academy of Sciences or that certain people weren’t interviewed or that certain places weren’t visited.

Even conditional conclusions — if this is done, then that will happen — are likely to be scrutinized right down to the syllable.

Given the stakes for both sides, we could be looking at years of argument that doesn’t convince anybody of anything — including majorities of the House of Delegates and state Senate.

Additionally, many local people supported an outside study of uranium mining and milling and are counting on the study’s results to inform their final choice on the matter.

For its part, an NAS spokeswoman said her agency doesn’t have direct contact with the companies it studies.

“We would not work directly with them (VUI),” Jennifer Walsh said. “We would only go to them with questions and concerns. They would have no say-so in the study.”

Is that the end of it? Probably not. Should it be the end of it? Probably so. But the problem could have been avoided if the state of Virginia didn’t saddle the National Academy of Sciences with this controversy.

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/opinion/editorials/danville_editorials/article/richmond_drops_the_ball_not_the_cash/13689/

National Academy of Sciences responds to uranium criticism

By John Crane

Published: September 3, 2009

A spokeswoman for the National Academy of Sciences responded Thursday to criticism from uranium-mining opponents that the academy is pro-nuclear.

Mining foes also say that a study performed by the NAS and paid for by Virginia Uranium Inc. would tilt in favor of uranium-mining.

The NAS has not received a formal request to conduct a study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the commonwealth, said Jennifer Walsh, spokeswoman for the NAS.

But Walsh said the academy has performed unbiased, federal-level studies in the past involving the tobacco and cell-phone industries. When an industry pays for a study, the NAS usually works with a third organization that provides funding on behalf of a company or industry, she said.

"We would not work directly with them (VUI)," Walsh said Thursday. "We would only go to them with questions and concerns. They would have no say-so in the study."

VUI seeks to mine and mill a 119-million pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chat-ham.

Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-1st District and chairman of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission, said Wednesday VUI will pay for the state study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the state. Kilgore said he will send a letter to the NAS to let offi-cials there know VUI will fund the study. So far, VUI is the sole entity that has expressed interest in paying for the study.

Virginia Tech's Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research will imple me nt funding and will contract with the NAS for the study.

Attempts to contact Michael Karmis, head of the VCCER, were unsuccessful Thursday.

The study's first portion, which will examine the technical and public-safety aspects of mining and milling, will cost between $1.2-$1.4 million, Kilgore said. The study's first phase should begin by the end of the year.

Mining opponents say a study paid for with VUI money will not be objective.

Walsh said an executive committee of the NAS governing board would review a study proposal, its budget and work plan — a process that could take weeks or months. If a study is approved, staff from the NAS and the National Research Council would assemble a committee of scientific experts who will hold information-gathering meetings on the study. The meetings are open to the public and posted on the NAS Web site ahead of time at http://www.national -academies. org.

Members of the public can follow the progress of the academy's studies by going to the Web site and clicking on the "current projects" link. To learn more about the NAS study process, go to the "National Academies study process" link.

The study's second part would focus on mining's socio-economic impact, including effects on real-estate values and businesses. The VCEC will seek another institution, such as George Mason University or James Madison University , to perform the second portion of the study. Kilgore said he is looking at foundations to pay for the second phase, which would not be funded by VUI. The study's second portion would probably begin in early 2010.

http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/national_academy_of_sciences_responds_to_uranium_criticism/13662/

NRC supports nuclear engineering at Virginia Tech

How conVEEE nyent...Va Tech's getting money from the NRC for nuclear engineering while supplying faculty and students to do who-knows-what-all at Coles Hill. It's also going to handle the money from VUI to the NAS in some odd effort to effect some semblance of integrity in the conflict-ridden study and payer system that's been worked out. I'm not sure I've seen anything quite this incestuous in a long, long time. Virginia, it's past time to wake the hell up!

Blacksburg, Va. -- Virginia Tech's nuclear engineering program will receive $450,000 for faculty development and $399,948 for fellowships from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

The NRC awarded nearly $20 million to 70 institutions to boost nuclear education and expand the workforce in nuclear and nuclear-related disciplines. Congress provided the NRC funding for a $5 million educational curriculum program and an additional $15 million to supplement the NRC's grant program for scholarships and fellowships, faculty development, trade schools, and community colleges.

"As directed by the Congress, this funding provides broad benefits to the nuclear sector rather than solely benefitting the NRC. These grants help develop a workforce capable of the design, construction, operation and regulation of nuclear facilities and the safe handling of nuclear materials," said NRC Chairman Gregory B. Jaczko. "This year the agency expanded the number of institutions receiving grants from 60 to 70, and increased the number of grants to minority serving institutions by 67 percent."

Virginia Tech revived its nuclear engineering program in 2007, offering graduate coursework that leads to a graduate certificate in nuclear engineering. Final approval of the graduate certificate is pending. Development of a master's and Ph.D. in nuclear engineering is in progress. In addition, an undergraduate certificate in nuclear engineering is currently available and a minor in nuclear engineering is in preparation.

"With the critical demand for energy by our nation and the world, we were pleased to revive our concentration on nuclear engineering," said Richard C. Benson, dean of Virginia Tech's College of Engineering. "We have strong relationships with a number of industrial and government entities, including AREVA, NP, Inc., the Babcock and Wilcox Company, Dominion Resources, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the American Nuclear Society, and the Department of Energy, that have shown support for our nuclear engineering program. I believe educating our very bright students in this area will be beneficial to them and to society."

Leading the effort in ME are two faculty members, Mark Pierson and Eugene Brown. Pierson was formerly on the staff of the director of naval reactors, a joint Department of Defense/Department of Energy organization founded by Admiral Hyman Rickover. Pierson was responsible for operational and maintenance input for all SW5 naval nuclear reactors and shipboard radiological controls. In 1992 he was named executive officer, second-in-command, of the USS Indianapolis SSN 697, a fast attack submarine.

From 1994 until 1997 Pierson served as the submarine maintenance program officer for the director of submarine warfare on the chief of naval operations staff at the Pentagon. In 1998 he was named deputy department head of the engineering, materials, and physical sciences department, and program officer for nuclear ballistic missile submarine security, for the Office of Naval Research. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 2001 and enrolled at Virginia Tech to earn his doctoral degree in mathematics. http://www.me.vt.edu/people/faculty/pierson.html

"Our long term vision is to create an interdisciplinary program in nuclear science and engineering," said Ken Ball, head of the ME department, who also has expertise in nuclear materials and engineering. "Our program would encompass the nuclear sciences and medicine as well as nuclear engineering and reach across three Virginia Tech colleges."

###

The NRC announcement is here: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2009/09-140.html

Official Seeks Funding For [VA's] Uranium Study

If the NAS has any integrity, it will avoid even a hint of impropriety by refusing to accept funding from any corporate entity with a vested interest in the outcome of the study. (Just my humble opinion, of course...SB)

By John Crane

Published: July 8, 2009

While the commonwealth waits for a study to begin to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the state, the head of the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission is seeking funding for the study.

So far, the sole entity that has expressed willingness to pay for the study is Virginia Uranium Inc., said Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-1st District, chairman of the VCEC.

“They’re the only ones who have offered funding,” Kilgore said, adding that he will try to obtain funding from environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, the Piedmont Environmental Council or other organizations.

The commission is responsible for arranging financing of the study. The VCEC’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee approved the first part of the study, which is expected to cover the technical aspects of mining and milling, in May. Kilgore said the study’s first portion would cost about $1.2 million. The second phase, which would cover uranium’s economic impact but has not yet been approved by the subcommittee, will cost about $500,000, Kilgore said.

The subcommittee will oversee the study. Michael Karmis, director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research at Virginia Tech, presented the final recommendation of the first phase of the study’s scope to the subcommittee on May 21, and is working on the study with the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council.

Karmis is out of the country and could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Kilgore said he will talk to Karmis about funding sources for the study and expects the next Uranium Mining Subcommittee meeting to take place in August or September. Kilgore said he believes the study, which would take up to two years, will start in the fall and that determining the scope of the study’s second phase later will not slow the process.

VUI chairman Walter Coles Sr. said his company has not been in discussion with the commission about providing funding, but would help pay for it if no alternate sources are found. VUI seeks to mine and mill a 119-million pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill, about six miles northeast of Chatham. Funding must be in place before the study begins, Kilgore said.

Uranium mining opponents have raised questions about the objectivity of a study backed by mining interests. Kilgore said he trusts the National Academy of Sciences to approach the study scientifically with no bias.

“The NAS would have a lot of safeguards in place,” Kilgore said. “They’re scientists first. I don’t believe they have an agenda either way.”

Jennifer Walsh, spokeswoman with the NAS/NRC, said academy officials have discussed the study’s scope with Karmis. Walsh said the academy has not received an official request for a study.

“The official request and proposed statement of task (the study’s scope) must … be approved by our governing board, which includes the president of the NAS, before a study can begin,” Walsh said via e-mail Wednesday.

The scope of the study’s first phase includes, among additional items, examination of public-safety and health impact of uranium mining and milling; review of the geologic, environmental, geographic, climatic and cultural settings and exploration status of uranium resources in Virginia; identification and description of the main types of uranium deposits worldwide, including, for example, geologic characteristics, mining operations and best practices; a review of global and national uranium market trends; a review of the state and federal regulatory framework for uranium mining, milling, processing and reclamation; identification of the issues that may need to be considered regarding the quality and quantity of groundwater and surface water and the quality of soil and air from uranium mining, milling, processing and reclamation; as relevant, water and waste management and severe weather effects or other stochastic events may also be considered.

http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/official_seeks_funding_for_uranium_study/12346/

Uranium Offers Empty Economic Promises

Mr. Austin has done his homework. The uranium industry's track record in the US is abysmal. Its track record around the world is abysmal. There is no reason to believe that it will be any better in Virginia.


Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Chatham Star-Tribune

This letter is in answer to a letter from Philip Shelton of Blairs published in your paper on May 20, 2009.

I have read your letter regarding the issue of mining uranium in Pittsylvania County where you state, hopefully, that this industry will be such a boon to our economy that our taxes will be reduced.

Let me state now that if this industry is allowed to mine uranium we will lose the enrollment of both Chatham Hall and Hargrave Military Academy.

Both of these institutions are a prime source of local tax revenue.

No one who knows anything about the past history of this industry with its widespread elevations of cancers, birth defects, and death would dare to send their children to a school that is within five miles of an open-pit uranium mine.

Further, if you study the records of uranium mining sites out west, where the industry has tried, unsuccessfully, to mine uranium without harming the environment or the surrounding population for years, you will note that in each case, the cleanup of toxic waste sites is left up to the local taxpayers to foot the bill.

Mr. Shelton, are you aware that Mr. Coles has sold Virginia Uranium Inc. to a Canadian mining company named Santoy?

Why would he sell out? Why is a Canadian mining company buying Virginia Uranium?

The answer is that Santoy's mining operations have been closed down by the Canadian government because of the pollution mines have caused in Canada.

Additionally, VUI has promised record employment here in Pittsylvania County. This is a bald lie.

Their plan states that they will use experienced mining personnel as well as students from the newly formed nuclear science school at Virginia Tech.

VUI claims it will produce 300 to 500 jobs in the county. How can we believe that when, nationwide, the uranium mining industry employs considerably less than 500 people in mining uranium?

It is only through knowledge of the problems of the uranium mining industry that you may begin to realize what a disaster we are in for if the existing moratorium were to be lifted.

I suggest that you, and anyone else who wishes to inform themselves about this industry, study what has gone on before now, worldwide, with the mining and milling of uranium.

I have come to love this area of Virginia and the people who reside here. It is for this reason that I will continue to educate myself and anyone who will listen to the dangers of the uranium mining industry.

I am not, to quote your letter, an "anti-everything" person. However, with what I know I am an anti-uranium mining, tree-hugging resident of Pittsylvania County.

Hunter Austin

Hurt

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/06/04/chatham/opinion/opinion02.txt

VA Tech, Company Aim For Safer Nuclear Energy

Wow...an experimental nuclear facility in SW Virginia! Coincidence?

The university and ADNA Corp. want to improve efficiency and cut down on waste.

By Greg Esposito

May 3, 2009

Virginia Tech is teaming with a company with Southwest Virginia ties on a project that could have far-reaching consequences in the field of nuclear energy.

The university and the Los Alamos, N.M.-based ADNA Corp. are expected to announce a memorandum of understanding today to construct a pilot facility to test technology to produce safer, less-costly and more-efficient nuclear energy.

The new design combines technology old and new -- but all proven to work -- including molten salt reactors tested in the 1960s and projects by ADNA founder and Roanoke native Charles Bowman that integrated accelerator technology into nuclear reactors in the 1990s.

"The components exist," Tech physics professor Bruce Vogelaar said. "What needs to happen is the integration of the systems and the demonstration that things work as anticipated. It's not a question of whether the technology, in principle, will work. The question is, 'Does it work as well as we anticipate?' "

If it does, the result will be nuclear power plants that produce more energy with less waste and don't result in the separation of plutonium from uranium during the process. Plutonium is a nuclear power byproduct that can be used to produce weapons. The production of it through the process of creating nuclear energy has been a point of contention in nuclear proliferation monitoring for years.

After a long career in nuclear science, Bowman retired in 1997 and founded ADNA -- short for Accelerator Driven Neutron Applications. A 1956 graduate of Tech who got his Ph.D. from Duke University in 1961, he splits his time between Los Alamos and Franklin County, where his family farm and some ADNA facilities are located.

The work between Tech and ADNA is the next step in research the company did with Duke and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. It will involve soliciting federal grants, and Vogelaar said he is optimistic that stimulus money for energy innovation could be a source of funding. Tech is contributing $225,000 in seed money.

Bowman began working with Vogelaar about three years ago. The Tech professor was a collaborator on a couple of experiments involving ADNA and Duke that measured neutron production from graphite. But the memorandum of understanding is the first official collaboration between Bowman and his alma mater.

There are several sites in Virginia, New Mexico, Tennessee and Nevada that qualify as candidates for the location of the pilot plant, Vogelaar said.

Bowman said the design phase of the demonstration facility could take about two years and the entire project about seven years.

"Virginia Tech is an excellent partner in this because this technology has moved to, pretty much, to an engineering phase," Bowman said. "So what we have to do is bring engineering to bear on the design of the demonstration facility. ... The science at this point is more in the area of refinement."

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/203552

Roanoke River Basin Advisory panel to weigh uranium mining

We'll all be interested in hearing Walter Coles' position on the issue. How is it again that he continues to serve on this committee?

The South Boston News & Record / April 30, 2009

The Virginia Roanoke River Basin Advisory Committee will meet Thursday, April 30 at 12:30 p.m. at the Clarksville Community Center. The topic of the meeting will be uranium mining, with three speakers featured on the agenda:

John P. Gannon is originally from southern New Jersey and received a Bachelor’s degree in physics from the College of New Jersey in Ewing, NJ in 2007. He now resides in Blacksburg, VA where he is a graduate student in the geosciences department at Virginia Tech. Gannon is working towards a Masters degree in physical hydrogeology. His project involves characterizing the hydrogeology of the Coles Hill area in Pittsylvania County, site a proposed uranium mine.

Leslie P. Foldesi has a MS in biology and is certified as a health physicist with the American Board of Health Physics. I have been employed with the Virginia Department of Health since 1985 in the Radiological Health Program and served as the director for 21 years.

Katherine Mull, Executive Director of Dan River Basin Association, has worked on regional water issues for the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, Fairfax County and as a planning commissioner. As a member of the board of directors of national and state organizations, she has worked on river basin conservation and public policy, including coal mining. As a management consultant, her experience includes financial systems for the U.S. Navy, business and government consulting, and market research and planning for the U.S. Department of Energy. Ms. Mull holds an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and a BS from the State University of New York at Albany.



Committee Members

Senator Roscoe Reynolds

Walter Coles, Sr., Chatham

Senator Frank M. Ruff

John H. Feild, Mecklenburg

Delegate Kathy J. Byron

Haywood J. Hamlet, Phenix

Delegate Thomas C. Wright, Jr.

Evelyn Janney, Floyd

Delegate Onzlee Ware

Bob Jean, Brookneal

Delegate Charles D. Poindexter

Russ Johnson, Wirtz

Rep. Tom Perriello

John Lindsey, Penhook

Mike McEvoy, Chairman, Roanoke

Billy Martin, Sr., Blue Ridge

Tim Pace, Collinsville

Robert H. Conner, Vice-Chair, Ebony

Mark Wagner, Huddleston

Read Charlton, Vice-Chair, Charlotte Court House

http://www.thenewsrecord.com/index.php/news/article/roanoke_river_basin_advisory_panel_to_weigh_uranium_mining/

Subcomittee set to hear final recommendation for uranium study

By John Crane

Published: April 30, 2009

The Virginia Coal and Energy Commission’s Uranium Mining Subcommittee will hear a final recommendation later this month on the scope of a study to determine whether uranium can be mined and milled safely in the commonwealth.

The meeting will include public comment and will be held at 2:30 p.m. May 21 in House Room D in the General Assembly Building in Richmond.

Virginia Uranium Inc. seeks to mine and mill a 119-million-pound uranium ore deposit at Coles Hill about six miles northeast of Chatham.

Virginia has a moratorium on uranium mining and milling. If the study finds it can be done safely in the state, the General Assembly would have to vote whether to lift the moratorium.

Michael Karmis, director of Virginia Tech’s Center for Coal and Energy Research, will present his final recommendation on the study’s scope May 21, said David Bovenizer, spokesman for Del. Lee Ware, chair of the Uranium Mining Subcommittee. Karmis’s recommendation will include input from the National Academy of Science.

In March, the subcommittee unanimously approved a draft of the study’s first phase outlining the technical and scientific aspects of the analysis Karmis said would take about 18 months. The technical half of the study will look at global, national and state supply/demand trends and projections, as well as costs and market aspects.

Study topics also will include uranium mining and milling technologies, local groundwater and surface-water monitoring, mine-site monitoring, and post-mining land use and monitoring.

However, the second portion of the study, which would address the socioeconomic aspects of uranium mining and milling, were not decided at the March meeting.

Bovenizer said the subcommittee hopes to receive Karmis’s recommendation and post it on the VCEC’s Web site between May 4 and May 7.

http://www.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/subcomittee_set_to_hear_final_recommendation_for_uranium_study/10716/