A uranium mine like the one proposed in Pittsylvania County could pose health risks and face economic challenges, two experts said today.
The men spoke at a daylong symposium on uranium mining at Richmond CenterStage in downtown Richmond.
Uranium and related substances such as radon can pose risks for cancer, birth defects and kidney harm, among other problems, said Doug Brugge, a professor of public health at Tufts University.
Also, prices and demand for uranium have dropped in recent years, said Paul Robinson, research director for the Southwest Research and Information Center, a nonprofit educational group based in Albuquerque, N.M.
Patrick Wales, project manager for Virginia Inc., which wants to mine uranium in Pittsylvania, called the symposium "little more than an anti-uranium pep rally."
Wales acknowledged that uranium mining has caused health problems in the past, but he added that modern regulations and mining methods would protect the public.
As for slumping demand, Wales said much of today's uranium comes from Russia and Kazakhstan.
"I'm not willing to mortgage our children's energy future" based on a supply from on what he called politically unstable regions.
Sponsors of the symposium included the environmental groups Friends of the Earth, the Sierra Club, the Piedmont Environmental Council and the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Formed by landowners in Pittsylvania in south-central Virginia, Virginia Uranium says more than 100 million pounds of uranium ore, worth more than $7 billion, lies underground.
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