Earthlife shares its concerns
BERTCHEN KOHRS WRITES:
Earthlife members are deeply alarmed by the recent accident at the Husab uranium mine resulting in the overflow of the tailings dam.
Tailings are the most dangerous part of the entire procedure of a uranium mine as they contain 85% of the radiating material contained in the original uranium ore. The milling process only extracts uranium from the ore, the decay products remain in the tailings. They are all radioactive.
Among these are long-lived radionuclides such as thorium-230 (with a half-life of 80 000 years), and radium-226 (half-life 1 600 years). Radium-226 is of specific concern as it continuously decays to radon-222 and as a gas escapes into the air. Radon-222 can cause lung cancer when inhaled. Radon gas can travel far distances with the wind during several days. Radon-222 has a half-life of 3.8 days after which still half of the radon gas will be there, the other half will have decayed into other radioactive elements, probably dropping onto the soil, on vegetation, on surface water and else. It can eventually permeate into the groundwater, our scarcest and most precious resource which can get contaminated in a way that it will never again be fit for human and animal consumption.
Mr. McCollum, Swakop Uranium's vice president for human resources and business support, informed the media that the pumps at some of the seepage collection ponds failed. An investigation of the magnitude of the accident apparently shows that “the spillage took place in a small localized area, still within the perimeter of the tailings storage facility fence, which is not accessible to the public or animals” (quote).
Keeping in mind that radiation and contamination do not respect any borders. We believe the statement trivializes the dimension of the hazard. This is unfortunately common practice by the management of big companies worldwide to silence the public after disasters happened.
The fact that the pumps have failed indicates inadequate maintenance of the equipment. How can it happen that a business of such huge and hazardous level is handled so irresponsibly?
In December 2015, a fire broke out in the processing plant of the Husab mine and raged over six hours. Two serious accidents in a short period of time are ample reason to lose trust in the safety of the company's operations.
We can't accept the gamble with our environment and the health of its people. The short-term benefits for a few don't by any means justify the harmful social and environmental impacts. We are earnestly asking the uranium companies to stop dulling the public.
Earthlife members are deeply alarmed by the recent accident at the Husab uranium mine resulting in the overflow of the tailings dam.
Tailings are the most dangerous part of the entire procedure of a uranium mine as they contain 85% of the radiating material contained in the original uranium ore. The milling process only extracts uranium from the ore, the decay products remain in the tailings. They are all radioactive.
Among these are long-lived radionuclides such as thorium-230 (with a half-life of 80 000 years), and radium-226 (half-life 1 600 years). Radium-226 is of specific concern as it continuously decays to radon-222 and as a gas escapes into the air. Radon-222 can cause lung cancer when inhaled. Radon gas can travel far distances with the wind during several days. Radon-222 has a half-life of 3.8 days after which still half of the radon gas will be there, the other half will have decayed into other radioactive elements, probably dropping onto the soil, on vegetation, on surface water and else. It can eventually permeate into the groundwater, our scarcest and most precious resource which can get contaminated in a way that it will never again be fit for human and animal consumption.
Mr. McCollum, Swakop Uranium's vice president for human resources and business support, informed the media that the pumps at some of the seepage collection ponds failed. An investigation of the magnitude of the accident apparently shows that “the spillage took place in a small localized area, still within the perimeter of the tailings storage facility fence, which is not accessible to the public or animals” (quote).
Keeping in mind that radiation and contamination do not respect any borders. We believe the statement trivializes the dimension of the hazard. This is unfortunately common practice by the management of big companies worldwide to silence the public after disasters happened.
The fact that the pumps have failed indicates inadequate maintenance of the equipment. How can it happen that a business of such huge and hazardous level is handled so irresponsibly?
In December 2015, a fire broke out in the processing plant of the Husab mine and raged over six hours. Two serious accidents in a short period of time are ample reason to lose trust in the safety of the company's operations.
We can't accept the gamble with our environment and the health of its people. The short-term benefits for a few don't by any means justify the harmful social and environmental impacts. We are earnestly asking the uranium companies to stop dulling the public.
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