Stormont lecturer discusses uranium mining
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IF YOU GO
What: John W. Stormont Lecture Series
When: Friday
Where: VC Johnson Symposium
9 a.m. - "Three Nines and a Diamond: The Ways and Means of Segregated Baseball in Victoria, Texas" Ed Byerly
10 a.m. - "A ...
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IF YOU GO
What: John W. Stormont Lecture Series
When: Friday
Where: VC Johnson Symposium
9 a.m. - "Three Nines and a Diamond: The Ways and Means of Segregated Baseball in Victoria, Texas" Ed Byerly
10 a.m. - "A History of Waterfowl Market Trade and Sport Hunting in Coastal Bend, Texas" by author Rob Sawyer
11 a.m. - "First Crossroads of Texas" by Bob Shook
Noon - Catered lunch and lecture "Some Wild Men and Women" by Henry Wolff Jr.
Cost: All lectures are free except for Wolff luncheon and lecture, $10
More information: Contact Sandy Drozd at 361-582-2530 or via e-mail at sandra.drozd@victoriacollege.edu.
Kim Jones was part of the emergency response team that helped to evacuate people from a 1979 partial nuclear meltdown near Harrisburg, Penn.
"Since then, I've had a love-hate relationship with the nuclear power business," Jones, an environmental engineering professor at Texas A&M - Kingsville, said at Victoria College on Thursday. He talked during a lecture about in-situ uranium mining in South Texas.
The near-disaster in Pennsylvania prompted more public awareness about the radioactive gases nuclear reactors produce. In cities like Goliad, where some believe the groundwater is contaminated by uranium, awareness of the environmental concerns is especially heightened.
Goliad residents were among the attendees of Thursday's presentation, part of the John W. Stormont Lecture Series, along with Victoria College students and one man in real estate, another industry affected by the mining of uranium.
In his presentation, Jones said that nuclear energy would figure into the future of U.S. energy policy regardless of what administration is at the helm.
With a possible proliferation of nuclear reactors, uranium mining may become more ubiquitous.
Jones said the industry should move toward in-situ mining, during which uranium is extracted from aquifers and collected in wells. Jones said in-situ mining is cleaner than older technologies and better for the environment because it does not require excavation.
Barbara Smith, general manager of the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District, attended the lecture and said it was informative and reassuring.
"I think there is a lot of work being done in trying to improve in-situ mining, and we are happy to see that," Smith said.
Opponents of in-situ mining say the process endangers underground water supplies by contaminating or threatening to contaminate large amounts of drinking water.
Comments
The question isn't whether uranium exists underground in the water table. The question is: To what degree?
I have traces of uranium in my water but not a threatening level. The uranium is in an anaerobic environment (without oxygen) and is at rest. If oxygen is introduced to the uranium by the accidental escape of mining fluids, then to what level will the dissolved uranium rise in my water? Also, uranium itself isn't as threatening as some of its by-products like radium, arsenic, molybdenum and selenium.
So, those who live adjacent to or close to the mining area may wake up each morning wondering if their water quality has changed. Radionuclides have no odor or taste and cannot be seen by the naked eye in a glass of water. The only way to detect changes is by testing for radionuclides which is extremely expensive.
Logic tells us that if we have slightly tainted water in an undisturbed state, then we should not disturb it. This is pure common sense.
I am not against uranium mining. I am against irresponsible uranium mining and until it's perfected, it needs to be kept away from drinking water supplies. "No guarantees" as stated by TCEQ to me personally does not give me a warm fuzzy feeling, at all.
Thank you, Kevin Janak, for taking the initiative to test those private wells a couple of years ago.
February 5, 2010 at 9:08 a.m.