tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/uranium-mine-8345/articlesuranium mine – The Conversation2021-08-01T20:08:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1648622021-08-01T20:08:27Z2021-08-01T20:08:27ZAboriginal people near the Ranger uranium mine suffered more stillbirths and cancer. We don’t know why<p><em>This article mentions stillbirth deaths in Aboriginal communities.</em></p>
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<p>The Ranger uranium mine, surrounded by Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory, operated for 40 years until it <a href="https://www.energyres.com.au/uploads/general/Ch_11_Social__and_Economic_Considerations.pdf">closed in 2021</a>. <a href="https://health.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/951742/Gunbalanya-Kakadu-Disease-Cluster-Investigation-Final-Report.pdf">During this time</a>, Aboriginal people in the region experienced stillbirth rates double those of Aboriginal people elsewhere in the Top End, and cancer rates almost 50% higher.</p>
<p>But a NT government investigation <a href="https://health.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/951742/Gunbalanya-Kakadu-Disease-Cluster-Investigation-Final-Report.pdf">couldn’t explain why</a>. And as I <a href="https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51198">write today</a> in the Medical Journal of Australia, we’re still no wiser.</p>
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<p>We owe it to Aboriginal people living near mines to understand and overcome what’s making them sick. We need to do this in partnership with Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations. This may require research that goes beyond a biomedical focus to consider the web of socio-cultural and political factors contributing to Aboriginal well-being and sickness.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uranium-mines-harm-indigenous-people-so-why-have-we-approved-a-new-one-116262">Uranium mines harm Indigenous people – so why have we approved a new one?</a>
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<h2>Investigating the health impacts</h2>
<p>Uranium was mined at Ranger from 1981 until 2012. Processing of stockpiled ore <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/science/supervising-scientist/ranger-mine">continued until</a> 2021. This is despite community opposition when the mine was proposed and during its operation.</p>
<p>Over the life of the mine, there have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/rangers-toxic-spill-highlights-the-perils-of-self-regulation-21409">more than 200 documented incidents</a>. Diesel and acid spills have contaminated creeks and drinking water.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.mirarr.net">Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation</a> represents the Mirarr people of the region. For decades it has <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214790X14000835">expressed grave concerns</a> about continuing incidents and the lack of an effective government response.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-uranium-mine-in-the-heart-of-kakadu-needs-a-better-clean-up-plan-115566">The uranium mine in the heart of Kakadu needs a better clean up plan</a>
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<p>When Ranger’s operators proposed expanding the mine in 2014, opponents pointed to <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/publication/35561">suggestions</a> of higher rates of stillbirth and cancer among Aboriginal people living nearby.</p>
<p>The NT health department then set up an investigation. Investigators began by identifying all Aboriginal people who had spent more than half their lives near the mine between 1991 and 2014. These people were compared with all other Aboriginal people in the Top End.</p>
<p>The investigators considered the worst-case scenario would be if Aboriginal people were exposed to radiation from the mine contaminating bush food, water or air, and this exposure increased stillbirth and cancer rates. </p>
<p>Investigators also looked at smoking tobacco, drinking alcohol and poor diet as possible contributing causes.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-australians-die-cause-2-cancers-58063">How Australians Die: cause #2 – cancers</a>
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<h2>Here’s what they found</h2>
<p>Investigators found the rate of stillbirth was 2.17 times higher among Aboriginal women near the mine. Radiation can lead to stillbirth by causing congenital malformations, and some other risk factors for stillbirth appeared more common amongst women near the mine. However the investigation found neither radiation nor other risk factors explained the higher rate of stillbirth.</p>
<p>The rate of cancer overall was 1.48 times higher among Aboriginal people near the mine than elsewhere in the Top End. No rates of single cancers were significantly higher.</p>
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<p>Cancers of the lip, mouth and throat together were the most common cancers. These cancers covered 42% of the excess cancers among people near the mine. The investigators were confident these cancers were not related to radiation from the mine, based on <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(09)70213-X/fulltext">international evidence</a>. The Ranger mine investigation concluded radiation did not contribute to the higher cancer rates.</p>
<p>However, cancers of the lip, mouth and throat are associated with smoking and drinking alcohol. Health records showed smoking, drinking alcohol and a poor diet were more common among Aboriginal people near the mine. Yet the rates of cancer among people near the mine who smoked, drank alcohol or reported poor diet were no higher than the rates of cancer among other Aboriginal people in the Top End who smoked, drank alcohol or reported a poor diet.</p>
<p>So the investigation <a href="https://health.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/951742/Gunbalanya-Kakadu-Disease-Cluster-Investigation-Final-Report.pdf">concluded</a> neither radiation, smoking, alcohol nor poor diet explained why Aboriginal people near the mine had higher rates of stillbirths and cancer.</p>
<p>The NT government concluded its investigation by recommending initiatives to <a href="https://health.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/951742/Gunbalanya-Kakadu-Disease-Cluster-Investigation-Final-Report.pdf">reduce smoking and drinking alcohol</a> by Aboriginal people near the mine.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-cancer-clusters-24623">Explainer: what are cancer clusters?</a>
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<h2>Investigating disease clusters can be hard</h2>
<p>When a cluster of people with a particular disease is identified, affected communities seek an explanation. However studies of disease clusters <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/11/2/1479">rarely explain</a> exactly why the cluster has occurred. Some diseases, such as cancer, have complex origins that may have been experienced decades before the cancer is diagnosed.</p>
<p>Worldwide, communities exposed to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK201047/">ionising radiation from mining</a> are often also exposed to dust, diesel, noise and trauma. They also have higher rates of smoking and drinking alcohol. </p>
<p>So, it is understandable the investigation into stillbirths and cancers among Aboriginal people near Ranger uranium mine was inconclusive.</p>
<h2>Where to next?</h2>
<p>While the NT government recommendations appear to show concern for Aboriginal health, they ignore the importance of Aboriginal people’s rights, empowerment and self-determination as contributors to health and well-being.</p>
<p>The development of the Ranger mine brought Aboriginal communities royalty <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18964202">money and alcohol</a>. It also contributed <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214790X14000835?via%3Dihub">to loss of</a> traditional livelihoods, dependency and despair.</p>
<p>Inequality <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/18964202">has also increased</a> among Aboriginal people near the mine, as some can access royalty money and work opportunities, and others cannot. And inequality can contribute to both <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871519220303176?via%3Dihub">stillbirths</a> and <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fonc.2019.00233/full">cancer</a>.</p>
<p>So these excess stillbirths and cancers may be associated with a web of interrelationships between individuals, communities and wider ecological, sociological and political environments. The NT government’s biomedically focused investigation was not designed to explore these and further research is needed to unravel this web.</p>
<p>Governments also need to consider all the risks Aboriginal communities potentially face from any proposed mining operations <a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/news/the-beetaloo-strategic-basin-plan-released-as-part-of-the-gas-fired-economic-recovery">before they commit</a> to these developments on Aboriginal land. This includes gas drilling proposed in the NT’s <a href="https://nit.com.au/native-title-holders-take-back-power-in-beetaloo-basin-bid/">Beetaloo Basin</a>.</p>
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<p><em>I’d like to acknowledge Justin O'Brien CEO of <a href="https://www.mirarr.net">Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation</a>, which represents the Mirrar people, who own the land at Ranger, and Michael Fonda, representing the <a href="https://www.phaa.net.au/">Public Health Association of Australia</a>. Both helped ensure the NT government investigation mentioned in this article was conducted, completed and published.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/164862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosalie Schultz is affiliated with Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) and Doctors for the Environment Australia (DEA).</span></em></p>We owe it to Aboriginal people living near uranium mines to learn more about what’s making them sick.Rosalie Schultz, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, College of Medicine and Public Health Centre for Remote Health, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1435242020-08-09T11:20:23Z2020-08-09T11:20:23ZLegacy of Canada’s role in atomic bomb is felt by northern Indigenous community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351794/original/file-20200807-24-110hvdn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3003%2C1933&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The beach at Port Radium, where uranium ore used to be loaded onto barges for shipment. The townsite for the mine used to stand on the pit of land on the right.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">CP PHOTO/Bob Weber</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a little known part of the legacy is the impact on the Délı̨nę First Nation of the Northwest Territories. I explore their stories in the film <a href="https://moralawakening.ca/"><em>A Moral Awakening</em></a>, which is available online.</p>
<p>This heritage connects Indigenous people, Canadians and people all over the world who are concerned with peace, reconciliation and social justice. The film contributes to understanding of the global impact of nuclear weapons and its <a href="http://www.pamphleteerspress.com/hiroshimas-shadow">contested history</a>. But the main goal of <em>A Moral Awakening</em> is to acknowledge the service and sacrifice of <a href="https://www.deline.ca/en/about-us/">the people of Délı̨nę</a>, a story long silenced.</p>
<p>The geographies of the film are spread across Canada, connected through the <a href="http://doi.org/10.3138/9781442674332">mining and transportation of uranium ore</a>. The ore was mined at Port Radium on Great Bear Lake, N.W.T., and then <a href="https://www.mqup.ca/highway-of-the-atom--the-products-9780773537835.php">transported to Port Hope, Ont.</a>, for refining, finally ending up in the United States for use in the Manhattan Project. Of the total amount of uranium used, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00016-014-0146-4">80 per cent was refined in Port Hope and 11 per cent came from Port Radium</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3042%2C1871&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A vintage black-and-white photograph of a wharf with two shipping vessels docked." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3042%2C1871&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351790/original/file-20200807-14-2syi67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Wharf used for shipping ore at head of Great Bear River, NWT, 1943.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Library and Archives Canada / RG85, R216, PA-101864)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<h2>Long-lasting impacts</h2>
<p>The people of Délı̨nę were hired to work as ore bag carriers and on the barges. In the decades that followed, many began to reflect on the impact of the mining and the legacy of the atomic bomb on the health and spiritual well-being of the community and its people. </p>
<p>In <em>A Moral Awakening</em>, the people of Délı̨nę demonstrate their fortitude as the community moves forward with greater control of its own future owing to <a href="https://youtu.be/Jp-aIloX5kE">self-government</a>. </p>
<p>As a non-Indigenous person, I am inspired by the people of Délı̨nę. This story is about the strength, courage and perseverance of a culture and a community, universal messages that are particularly relevant today.</p>
<p>The voices and experiences of community leaders and Elders in Délı̨nę are central to <em>A Moral Awakening</em>. The community was directly and deeply affected by their work at Port Radium. Dene workers at Port Radium often carried mined uranium on their backs in sacks and were susceptible to breathing in ore dust. But given limitations of data available, a 2005 government report was <a href="https://assembly.nu.ca/library/Edocs/2005/001195-e.pdf">unable to confirm a link between the levels of cancer in the community and exposure to low-grade uranium</a>. </p>
<p>There has been no closure for the community.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The 1999 documentary ‘A Village of Widows’ examines the effects of mining and transporting the uranium ore used in the atomic bomb.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>‘Huge health risk’</h2>
<p><em>A Moral Awakening</em> features members of the Délı̨nę community.</p>
<p>“Our people were never told about the dangers of being exposed to uranium,” says Danny Gaudet, chief negotiator for the <a href="https://www.deline.ca/en/home/">Délı̨nę Got’įnę</a> self-government agreement. “There are letters on file that the federal government knew back then that opening Port Radium was a huge health risk to anybody that operated or worked there.”</p>
<p>Elder Alfred Taniton, who worked in the mine in the 1950s and ‘60s, says not only was the mine hard on people’s health, it was hard on their hearts. </p>
<p>“The poison they took out they made a powerful weapon out of it, so they dropped it on another country, and the people from that country also suffered by it,” he says in the film. “We think about that. It came from our land to be used to make other people suffer.”</p>
<p>The film’s title was inspired by former American president Barack Obama’s words in May 2016 during a visit to Hiroshima. He described a future in which “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/27/barack-obama-japan-hiroshima-reaction">Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare, but as the start of our own moral awakening</a>.” </p>
<p>In the case of what happened to the people of Délı̨nę, the film calls for a moral awakening in the form of a call to action to overcome the shadow of destruction and injustice that we humans so readily bring upon ourselves, on others and our planet. This would include a formal reconciliation between the governments of Canada and the Délı̨nę Got’įnę.</p>
<h2>Canada’s war heritage</h2>
<p>The film is part of the <a href="https://warheritage.royalroads.ca/">War Heritage Research Initiative</a> at <a href="https://www.royalroads.ca/">Royal Roads University</a>, a project started in 2015 and funded primarily by the Government of Canada. I have written, directed and produced more than 30 short documentary films profiling Canada’s heritage related to the World Wars, both in our country and overseas. </p>
<p>These films rely on the concept of a <a href="http://cup.columbia.edu/book/realms-of-memory/9780231084048">site of memory</a> as the gateways to the past. The stories are narrated by local storytellers deeply connected to these places, people I call “guardians of remembrance.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A derelict wharf on a river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/351797/original/file-20200807-22-1ne6xhg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The old wharf at the head of Great Bear River.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(D. Anthon, 2017)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>They help us understand the significance of learning this heritage, how it shapes understandings of our identity and the lessons that can inspire us to make a better world. These films are for educational purposes and <a href="https://warheritage.royalroads.ca/war-memories-across-canada/">are accessible to all online</a>.</p>
<p>Port Radium <a href="https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1332423218253/1332441057035">was remediated</a> by 2009. Because the site of memory no longer exists, and with the inevitable passing of all who lived and worked in that era, we face an extra challenge in remembering Canada’s connection to arguably the most seminal event in 20th-century history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143524/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Bird received funding to cover travel and film editing from Heritage Canada, Government of Canada. </span></em></p>Seventy-five years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of Délı̨nę remain affected by Canada’s role in the attack. A documentary presents their stories.Geoffrey Bird, Professor of heritage, culture, and tourism, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1158812019-06-18T10:47:38Z2019-06-18T10:47:38ZThe Supreme Court’s Virginia uranium ruling hints at the limits of federal power<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279901/original/file-20190617-118518-1ml46w1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many Virginians back the decades-old moratorium.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virginia-Uranium/bbff647094b3432c97b739915c9c26c8/5/0">AP Photo/Steve Helber</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Virginia has the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/16-1275_7lho.pdf">authority to ban uranium mining</a> under state law, even as the federal government regulates the processing of nuclear fuel under the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ehss/atomic-energy-act-and-related-legislation">Atomic Energy Act</a>, the Supreme Court has ruled.</p>
<p>Neil Gorsuch, joined by the court’s longest-serving and newest conservatives – Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh – rejected the idea that Congress’ plan for nuclear enrichment could override Virginia’s decision to prohibit uranium mining altogether. On that point, these three conservatives were in sync with three of the court’s liberals, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. This remarkably diverse coalition agreed that the “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/16-1275_7lho.pdf#page=22">Commonwealth’s mining ban is not preempted</a>” by federal authority. Chief Justice John Roberts filed a dissent.</p>
<p>I have been <a href="https://www.law.virginia.edu/faculty/profile/caj5f/1176168">involved in this case</a>, Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren, in its various iterations for more than a decade. Before joining the faculty at the University of Virginia School of Law, I worked with the <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/cases-and-projects/uranium-mining-a-risky-experiment">Southern Environmental Law Center</a>, an environmental advocacy organization that had raised grave concerns about a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/26/virginia-uranimum-mine/1866489/">proposed uranium mine</a> near the city of Danville. </p>
<p>All three of the opinions published in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/16-1275.html">Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren</a> are likely to prove significant in future environmental battles – both in the courts and in the court of public opinion.</p>
<p>On one level, the justices sketched out the court’s evolving views on the proper balance between federal regulatory power and the rights of states in setting their own policies. Their opinions also challenged some common assumptions about how grassroots environmental advocates can pull together winning political coalitions. </p>
<h2>Inverting the states’ rights divide</h2>
<p>Conventional wisdom holds that <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-neil-gorsuch-72142">conservatives have excelled at getting judges</a> who support states’ rights on the bench. These judges are broadly seen as distrustful of large federal bureaucracies and enthusiastic about a <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/tenth_amendment">Tenth Amendment precept</a> that the national government is one of limited powers. Any power not explicitly granted to Congress or the president is, according to the Bill of Rights, “reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” </p>
<p>So you might have expected all five of the court’s conservative justices to side with the Commonwealth of Virginia and reject an application of the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ehss/atomic-energy-act-and-related-legislation">Atomic Energy Act</a> that would extend federal administrative power into an area of traditional state control. </p>
<p>Likewise, you might have guessed that all four liberal justices would have questioned Virginia’s motives in enacting a 1982 moratorium that, according to the <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/16/16-1275/54817/20180719144052589_Petitioners%20Brief.pdf">uranium mining industry</a>, was allegedly designed to circumvent federal law.</p>
<p>But Gorsuch’s and Ginsburg’s separate, concurring opinions in the uranium case show how difficult the political calculus can be. </p>
<p>While Gorsuch’s lead opinion charted a conservative tack by emphasizing states’ rights, Ginsburg followed a different path that leaned heavily on defending legal precedents.</p>
<p>She also pushed back on the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-thomas/justice-thomas-urges-us-supreme-court-to-feel-free-to-reverse-precedents-idUSKCN1TI2KJ">right’s recent interest in revisiting settled case law</a>. Roberts’s dissent is equally important, even though it only garnered two additional votes, from Stephen Breyer, the most moderate member of the liberal camp, and Samuel Alito, a conservative. </p>
<p>Roberts staked out an ideological middle ground between Gorsuch and Ginsburg. Echoing concerns <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2018/16-1275_c07d.pdf#page=41">Breyer raised during oral argument</a>, he looked at the “purpose and effect” of Virginia’s mining ban to consider whether the Commonwwealth’s concerns interfered with Congress’ actions.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/279899/original/file-20190617-118505-xr9b1g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No joke: Everyone in this photo besides Chief Justice John Roberts joined together to uphold Virginia’s uranium mining ban.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Supreme-Court/f216996b265b413793105ffb497040fd/2/0">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Economic interests</h2>
<p>In its lawsuit, Virginia Uranium claimed that its proposed mining site, about 220 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., could generate <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/16-1275-cert-petition.pdf#page=258">US$4.8 billion</a> in net revenue for Virginia businesses. </p>
<p>Uranium oxide, commonly <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/yellowcake.html">known as yellowcake</a>, can be enriched to produce the fuel that powers the nation’s nuclear reactors. But first it has to be extracted from the ground, which is a monumentally significant undertaking. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/cases-and-projects/fact-sheets/a-summary-of-key-findings-from-national-academy-of-sciences-report-uranium">Green groups</a> seized on a report published by the <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13266/uranium-mining-in-virginia-scientific-technical-environmental-human-health-and">National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine</a>, which found that uranium mining increases the incidences of cancer, acidification of local waterways, and the emission of soot and smog-forming pollutants from industrial equipment.</p>
<p>Local businesses joined environmentalists in pushing back. The <a href="https://www.godanriver.com/news/pittsylvania_county/uranium/in-multi-faceted-case-that-defies-political-stereotypes-highest-court/article_f630b634-dfb0-11e8-8e74-ebc58661f835.html">Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce</a> opposed the mining project, out of concern about the potential harm to agriculture, tourism and other economic development opportunities.</p>
<h2>The state of the law</h2>
<p>Under the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-atomic-energy-act">Atomic Energy Act</a>, states retain jurisdiction over conventional uranium mining. The federal government lacks authority over uranium ore “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/2095">prior to removal from its place of deposit in nature</a>,” when it is milled into yellowcake. </p>
<p>In our brief to the Supreme Court, we noted that Virginia had narrowly tailored its ban to avoid any conflict with that measure. The state’s moratorium exclusively restricts state-controlled mining and bans only that activity. </p>
<p>Even with the ban on the books, we explained that it still would be legal to process uranium ore under the federal regulatory regime, so long as that ore had been <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/16/16-1275/62611/20180904162044841_AMICUS%20BRIEF%20IN%20SUPPORT%20OF%20RESPONDENTS%20FOR%20SOUTHERN%20VIRGINIA%20DELEGATION%20ET%20AL.pdf#page=25">mined out-of-state and trucked into Virginia</a>. In a footnote, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/16-1275_7lho.pdf#page=32">Ginsburg shared a similar observation</a>: “The mining ban at issue would not prevent uranium ore mined in North Carolina from being milled, and the resulting tailings stored, in the Commonwealth.”</p>
<p>In other words, Ginsburg focused on the real-world mechanics of how the ban would work.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/16-1275_7lho.pdf#page=6">Gorsuch</a>, on the other hand, kept his eye on broader implications and questioned whether one of the court’s settled judicial doctrines should be retained.</p>
<p>Supreme Court precedent holds that a state’s law can be struck down if it creates an irreconcilable “obstacle” to carrying out a congressional objective. Gorsuch appeared to suggest that such an obstacle might exist when he described Virginia’s mining ban as a “roadblock” that prevents the mining company from even reaching the point where the federal Atomic Energy Act could “kick in.” </p>
<p>The mining company initiated this lawsuit “to overcome that obstacle,” he wrote. Instead of finding the Virginia statute to be preempted, however, Gorsuch found the “obstacle” itself suspect. It’s impossible to pin down, he suggested, without “piling inference upon inference about hidden legislative wishes” – something he refused to do. </p>
<p>Ginsburg was not amused. Gorsuch’s criticisms of judicial doctrine is “inappropriate in an opinion speaking for the Court” because it “sweeps well beyond the confines of this case.”</p>
<h2>A roadmap for future advocacy</h2>
<p>The farthest-reaching implications of Gorsuch’s discussion only garnered three votes. But it clearly indicated where the Court’s most conservative justices hope to take the law, staving off “<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/18pdf/16-1275_7lho.pdf#page=16">the costs to … individual liberty</a>” if courts were to dissect a state’s legislative motives to find a conflict with a federal regulatory program. </p>
<p>Perhaps that points to a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3217107">playbook for advocacy</a> on other federal actions that environmentalists might find objectionable, such as the Trump administration’s reversal of <a href="https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/electric-utility-generating-units-repealing-clean-power-plan-0">President Barack Obama’s climate change policies</a>.</p>
<p>Environmentalists are, after all, <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/05/07/states-resist-trumps-environmental-agenda/">gaining an appreciation</a> for the value of state initiatives, like Virginia’s mining ban, which can provide a bulwark against regulatory rollbacks.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: Portions of this article appeared in a related article published on <a href="https://theconversation.com/virginias-uranium-mining-battle-flips-traditional-views-of-federal-and-state-power-109167">Jan. 11, 2019</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115881/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cale Jaffe served as counsel of record before the Supreme Court for the Members of the Southern Virginia Delegation to the Virginia General Assembly, et al., who filed an amicus brief supporting Virginia's uranium mining ban. He previously served as director of the Virginia office of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), and currently volunteers as chair of the board of directors for the Virginia Conservation Network (VCN). SELC and VCN also support Virginia's prohibition on uranium mining.</span></em></p>The 6-3 ruling challenges some common political assumptions about conservatives and liberals.Cale Jaffe, Assistant Professor of Law and Director, Environmental and Regulatory Law Clinic, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1162622019-05-01T05:41:12Z2019-05-01T05:41:12ZUranium mines harm Indigenous people – so why have we approved a new one?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271924/original/file-20190501-39948-1c78u5x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C15%2C5176%2C3430&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Walking for Country with Walkatjurra Walkabout from 2011 - 2018. Aboriginal communities across Australia continue to mobilise against government decisions that ignore claims to native title. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://walkingforcountry.com/">Walking for Country</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week the federal government <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-26/government-approved-uranium-mine-day-before-election/11047252">approved</a> the Yeelirrie uraniam mine in Western Australia in the face of vigorous protest from traditional owners.</p>
<p>This Canadian-owned uranium mine is the newest instalment in Australia’s long tradition of ignoring the dignity and welfare of Aboriginal communities in the pursuit of nuclear fuel. </p>
<p>For decades, Australia’s desert regions have experienced uranium prospecting, mining, waste dumping and nuclear weapons testing. Settler-colonial perceptions that these lands were “<a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=5wqFDAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false">uninhabited</a>” led to widespread environmental degradation at the hands of the nuclear industry. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-not-worth-wiping-out-a-species-for-the-yeelirrie-uranium-mine-116059">It's not worth wiping out a species for the Yeelirrie uranium mine</a>
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<p>As early as 1906, South Australia’s <a href="http://www.energymining.sa.gov.au/minerals/mining/former_mines/radium_hill_mine">Radium Hill</a> was mined for radium. Amateur prospectors mined haphazardly, damaging Ngadjuri and Wilyakali lands. And an estimated 100,000 tonnes of <a href="http://www.tailings.info/basics/tailings.htm">toxic mine residue</a> (tailings) remain at Radium Hill with the potential to leach radioactive material into the environment. </p>
<p>Uranium mines across Australia have similar legacies, with <a href="https://vimeo.com/ondemand/jabiru">decades of activism</a> from the Mirarr people against the Ranger and Jabiluka mine sites in Kakadu National Park.</p>
<p>In the 36 years since it began operating, the Ranger mine has produced over <a href="http://www.energyres.com.au/uploads/docs/2017_ERA_AnnualReport_ebook.pdf">125,000 tonnes of uranium</a> and experienced more than 200 accidents. In 2013, a reported <a href="http://www.mirarr.net/uranium-mining">one million litres of contaminated material</a> leaked from a Ranger tank (the spill was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-12/era-avoids-charges-over-radioactive-slurry-spill/7163560">contained to the site)</a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/rangers-toxic-spill-highlights-the-perils-of-self-regulation-21409">Ranger's toxic spill highlights the perils of self-regulation</a>
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<p>Aboriginal communities remain at a disproportionate risk because large uranium deposits exist in lands deemed sacred and significant, while the testing and dumping of nuclear material is rarely undertaken in areas inhabited by settlers.</p>
<p>The federal government’s ambivalence toward these impacts has most recently culminated in their decision to give <a href="https://www.camecoaustralia.com/projects/yeelirrie">Cameco</a> the go-ahead for the Yeelirrle uranium mine, a blow to the traditional owners of Tjiwarl country. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1102449936317251585"}"></div></p>
<h2>Native title fails to protect traditional owners from the mining industry</h2>
<p>The Tjiwarl people have fought the Yeelirrie mine alongside the <a href="https://thewest.com.au/business/uranium/battle-against-yeelirrie-uranium-mine-continues-for-traditional-owners-and-conservation-council-ng-b881125927z">Conservation Council of WA</a> for more than two years. They now must grapple with the government’s decision to ignore their resistance.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/traditional-owners-still-stand-in-adanis-way-115454">Traditional owners still stand in Adani's way</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>But the Tjiwarl people are not alone. Aboriginal communities across Australia continue to engage with and mobilise against government decisions to ignore native title claimants. </p>
<p>As set out in Australian law, <a href="https://www.klc.org.au/what-is-native-title">native title</a> is the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights to the land and waters, guided by traditional law and customs.</p>
<p>Aboriginal communities <a href="http://www.dmp.wa.gov.au/Documents/Minerals/Process_for_Determining_Mining_Act_applications(1).pdf">have an opportunity</a> to object to a mining application, 35 days before the outcome of the application is determined. A complex appeals process follows. </p>
<p>But even in the face of significant complaints, mining applications are more often than not approved. This has led to people mobilising internationally. </p>
<p>And in 2017, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (<a href="http://www.icanw.org/the-treaty/">ICAN</a>) negotiated with the United Nations to create a treaty banning nuclear weapons. The treaty, adopted on July 7, 2017, recognised the disproportionate impact nuclear material has on Indigenous communities around the world. It includes the mining and milling of uranium. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271667/original/file-20190430-194606-vkggsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Kokatha woman Sue Coleman-Haseldine speaking at the UN on behalf of ICAN.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">InternationalCampaignToAbolishNuclearWeapons/flickr</span></span>
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<p>The treaty <a href="https://www.un.org/disarmament/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/tpnw-info-kit-v2.pdf">warns</a> that parties should be: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>mindful of the unacceptable suffering of and harm caused to the
victims of the use of nuclear weapons (hibakusha), as well as of those
affected by the testing of nuclear weapons, [and recognise] the disproportionate impact of nuclear-weapon activities on indigenous peoples.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Nuclear weapons sourced from Aboriginal lands</h2>
<p>The toxic legacy of uranium mining is not isolated to the contamination of ecosystems. </p>
<p>Radium Hill <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/australia.aspx">provided uranium</a> for weapons for the United Kingdom and United States, including the nuclear weapons tested at Maralinga and Emu Field in the 1950s and 1960s.</p>
<p>These weapons spread radioactive contamination and dispossessed Aboriginal communities in and around the <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/sas-nuclear-debate-the-states-controversial-history-of-atomic-tests-and-uranium-mining/news-story/ac98c44cb425ce43273dbc67a799ff13">Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara</a> (APY) lands.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271662/original/file-20190430-194637-10zt99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271662/original/file-20190430-194637-10zt99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271662/original/file-20190430-194637-10zt99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271662/original/file-20190430-194637-10zt99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271662/original/file-20190430-194637-10zt99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271662/original/file-20190430-194637-10zt99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271662/original/file-20190430-194637-10zt99u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">1982 image of Ranger Uranium Mine visable across Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/PhotoDetail.aspx?Barcode=11854163">National Archives of Australia, A6135, K2/3/82/62</a></span>
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<p>Uranium from the Ranger mine in Northern Territory found its way into the Fukushima Reactor, a reality that plagues the Mirrar people. In 2011, traditional owner <a href="http://www.mirarr.net/uranium-mining">Yvonne Margarula</a> expressed her sorrow for those affected by the Fukushima meltdown: </p>
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<p>it is likely that the radiation problems at Fukushima are, at least in part, fuelled by uranium derived from our traditional lands. This makes us feel very sad.</p>
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<p>These legacies are felt acutely by those who continue to struggle with the lack of protection from native title and other government policies apparently designed to prevent the exploitation of Aboriginal communities by various industries.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-time-for-indigenous-nationhood-to-replace-a-failing-colonial-authority-114088">It's time for Indigenous nationhood to replace a failing colonial authority</a>
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<p>In the 1970s, when the Ranger mine opened, the Mirarr people felt largely powerless in negotiations between mining companies and the federal government. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-26/government-approved-uranium-mine-day-before-election/11047252">Last week</a>, the Tjiwarl experienced similar disempowerment. Yet both communities are recognised by the government as traditional owners.</p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, Australia is yet to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, continuing the persistently toxic legacy of Australia’s nuclear industry.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>A previous version of this article stated a 2013 leak at the Ranger mine spilled radioactive material into the “surrounding environment.” The leak was contained on the site.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Urwin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Yeelirrie uranium mine is the latest instalment in Australia’s long tradition of ignoring the dignity and welfare of Aboriginal communities in the pursuit of nuclear fuel.Jessica Urwin, PhD Candidate, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1160592019-04-26T06:06:05Z2019-04-26T06:06:05ZIt’s not worth wiping out a species for the Yeelirrie uranium mine<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271149/original/file-20190426-61877-ax136m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C23%2C5168%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Western Australian outback may look bare at first glance, but it's teeming with wildlife, often beneath the surface. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One day before calling the election, the government <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-26/government-approved-uranium-mine-day-before-election/11047252">approved</a> the controversial Yeelirrie uranium mine in the remote wilderness of Western Australia, about 500km north of Kalgoorlie.</p>
<p>The Tjiwarl Traditional Owners have fought any uranium mining on their land for the last <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2018/02/08/traditional-owners-lose-their-fight-stop-uranium-mine-wa">40 years</a>, and the decision by the government wasn’t made public until the day before Anzac Day.</p>
<p>This region is home to several of Australia’s deposits of uranium and not only holds cultural significance as part of the <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/2018/02/08/traditional-owners-lose-their-fight-stop-uranium-mine-wa?cid=inbody:traditional-owners-continue-fight-against-wa-uranium-mine">Seven Sisters Dreaming Songline</a>, but also environmental significance. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-end-to-endings-how-to-stop-more-australian-species-going-extinct-111627">An end to endings: how to stop more Australian species going extinct</a>
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<p>If the mine goes ahead, groundwater levels would drop by 50cm and wouldn’t fully recover for 200 years. And <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-26/government-approved-uranium-mine-day-before-election/11047252">2,422 hectares</a> of native vegetation would be cleared.</p>
<p>I visited the site 16 years ago and, like the rest of the Western Australian outback, there’s a wonderful paradox where the land appears barren, but is, in fact, rich with biodiversity.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271150/original/file-20190426-61893-8dajto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271150/original/file-20190426-61893-8dajto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271150/original/file-20190426-61893-8dajto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271150/original/file-20190426-61893-8dajto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=200&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271150/original/file-20190426-61893-8dajto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271150/original/file-20190426-61893-8dajto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271150/original/file-20190426-61893-8dajto.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=251&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The former pilot open cut at Yeelirrie, February 2003 – unrehabilitated from the early 1980s.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo G M Mudd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Native animals living in underground water, called stygofauna, are one such example of remarkable Australian fauna that aren’t obvious at first glance. These animals are under threat of extinction if the Yeelirrie uranium mine goes ahead. </p>
<h2>Stygofauna are ecologically fragile</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.subterraneanecology.com.au/knowledge-publications/about-stygofauna">Most stygofauna</a> are very tiny invertebrates, making up species of crustaceans, worms, snails and diving beetles. Some species are well adapted to underground life – they are typically blind, pale white and with long appendages to help them find their way in total darkness.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271155/original/file-20190426-61896-1i5clsb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Yeelirrie stygofauna.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Giulia Perina, Subterranean Ecology Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/media-statements/epa-releases-its-report-yeelirrie-uranium-project-report-1574">2016</a>, the Western Australian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advised against building the Yeelirrie uranium mine because it would threaten the stygofauna species there, despite the proposed management strategies of Cameco Australia, the mine owner.</p>
<p>Stygofauna are extremely local, having evolved in the site they’re found in. This means individual species aren’t found anywhere else in the world.</p>
<p>EPA chairman Tom Hatton <a href="http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/media-statements/epa-releases-its-report-yeelirrie-uranium-project-report-1574">said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Despite the proponent’s well-considered management strategies, based on current scientific understanding, the EPA concluded that there was too great a chance of a loss of species that are restricted to the impact area.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yeelirrie has a rich stygofauna habitat, with <a href="http://www.epa.wa.gov.au/media-statements/epa-releases-its-report-yeelirrie-uranium-project-report-1574">73 difference species</a> recorded.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271153/original/file-20190426-61863-1skkrxh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271153/original/file-20190426-61863-1skkrxh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271153/original/file-20190426-61863-1skkrxh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271153/original/file-20190426-61863-1skkrxh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271153/original/file-20190426-61863-1skkrxh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271153/original/file-20190426-61863-1skkrxh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271153/original/file-20190426-61863-1skkrxh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A species of stygofauna in Yeelirrie.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Giulia Perina, Subterranean Ecology Pty Ltd</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And to get to the uranium deposit, the miners need to dig through the groundwater, a little like pulling the plug in the middle of the bathtub. Stygofauna have adapted to living at different levels of the water, so pulling out the plug could dry out important parts of their habitat.</p>
<p>Stygofauna are also susceptible to any changes in the chemistry of the groundwater. We simply do not know with confidence what mining will do to the groundwater chemistry at Yeelirrie in the long term. Various wastes will be backfilled into former pits, causing uncertainty for the welfare of surrounding stygofauna.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/maybe-we-can-but-should-we-deciding-whether-to-bring-back-extinct-species-77469">Maybe we can, but should we? Deciding whether to bring back extinct species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The approval conditions suggest that the mine should not be allowed to cause extinction – but if this does happen, nothing can be done to reverse it. And there would be no penalty to Cameco either – which has said it <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/574/From_Department_of_the_Environment_and_Energy_20.11.2018.pdf?1556257326">can’t guarantee</a> such a condition can be met.</p>
<h2>So are the economic benefits worth wiping out a species?</h2>
<p>Short answer: no. But let’s, for a moment, ignore these subterranean animals and look at whether the mine would be beneficial. </p>
<p>Yeelirrie is one of Australia’s largest uranium deposits – and yet it has a low grade of <a href="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets-us-west-2/annual/cameco-2018-information-form.pdf">0.15%</a> (as uranium oxide). This refers to the amount of uranium found in rock. For comparison, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969713013533">the average grade</a> of uranium mines globally is normally 0.1 to 0.4% of uranium oxide (with some higher and others lower). </p>
<p>And Cameco’s Cigar Lake and McArthur River mines in Canada have typically been 15-20% of uranium oxide. Despite such rich ore, McArthur River was <a href="https://www.cameco.com/media/news/cameco-to-suspend-production-from-mcarthur-river-and-key-lake-operations-an">uneconomic</a> and closed indefinitely in early 2018.</p>
<p>What’s more, the future of nuclear power is not bright. According to the <a href="https://www.worldnuclearreport.org/">World Nuclear Industry Status Report</a>, the number of nuclear reactors under construction around the world is at its lowest point in a decade, as renewable energy increases. The amount of nuclear electricity produced each year is flat. And nuclear’s share of global electricity is constantly falling behind renewables.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/electric-cars-can-clean-up-the-mining-industry-heres-how-115369">Electric cars can clean up the mining industry – here's how</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>But, in any case, we don’t yet know enough about these stygofauna to warrant their extinction. They could, for instance, have untold benefits to medical science, or perhaps have wider environmental and cultural significance.</p>
<p>And, ethically, what right do we have to wipe out a species? They have evolved and survived just like us. At the end of the day, there are much safer, cheaper, more ethical and cleaner ways to generate electricity to boil a kettle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/116059/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Mudd currently receives funding from Geoscience Australia (for research work not related to this article), and is Chair of the Mineral Policy Institute (a mining-focussed NGO).</span></em></p>Stygofauna, Australian animals that live in underground water, are under threat from the newly approved uranium mine.Gavin Mudd, Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1091672019-01-11T11:46:36Z2019-01-11T11:46:36ZVirginia’s uranium mining battle flips traditional views of federal and state power<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/252948/original/file-20190108-32136-yfeb74.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Supreme Court is likely to rule on the case by June.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Supreme-Court/fed3540dfaaf464caa6145bac01394d4/23/0">AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Supreme Court will decide in 2019 whether a Virginia law that bans uranium mining is preempted by the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ehss/atomic-energy-act-and-related-legislation">Atomic Energy Act</a>, the U.S. law governing the processing and enrichment of nuclear material. </p>
<p>The case, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/16-1275.html">Virginia Uranium, Inc. v. Warren</a>, will require the court to interpret laws governing nuclear fuel production. But its most significant, long-term impact might be the glimpse it provides into the court’s view of the proper balance between federal regulatory power and the rights of states in setting their own policies.</p>
<p>I have been <a href="https://www.law.virginia.edu/faculty/profile/caj5f/1176168">involved in this case</a> in its various iterations for more than a decade. Before joining the faculty at the University of Virginia School of Law, I worked with the <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/cases-and-projects/uranium-mining-a-risky-experiment">Southern Environmental Law Center</a>, an environmental advocacy organization that had raised grave concerns about a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/26/virginia-uranimum-mine/1866489/">proposed uranium mine</a> near the city of Danville. </p>
<h2>Inverting the states’ rights divide</h2>
<p>Conventional wisdom holds that people on the political right <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2010/04/18/distrust-discontent-anger-and-partisan-rancor/">distrust large federal bureaucracies</a> and would rather allow state officials the freedom to regulate their own economies. Under this line of thinking, conservatives would be expected to side with the Commonwealth of Virginia and recoil at an intrusive application of the <a href="https://www.energy.gov/ehss/atomic-energy-act-and-related-legislation">Atomic Energy Act</a> that would prohibit the state from enforcing a <a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/cases-and-projects/uranium-mining-a-risky-experiment">ban on uranium mining in place since 1982</a>.</p>
<p>Those on the liberal end of the spectrum, on the other hand, might be expected to <a href="https://www.vox.com/polyarchy/2018/2/27/17058498/federalism-hard">see a strong federal hand</a> as necessary to prevent states from deregulating and despoiling their own environments.</p>
<p>This case is one of several, recent <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3220597">environmental</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/democrats-and-republicans-switched-sides-on-states-rights-2017-1">public policy</a> disputes to demonstrate how that thinking can be wrong. </p>
<p>Over the course of their political careers, conservative Republican Sens. <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=132">Tom Cotton</a> of Arkansas, <a href="https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases-republican?ID=5B3A5418-802A-23AD-45D7-FC3874CED3A4">Jim Inhofe</a> of Oklahoma and <a href="https://www.cruz.senate.gov/?p=news&id=2241">Ted Cruz</a> of Texas have each highlighted the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/1632/cosponsors">10th Amendment</a> in advocating for a limited view of federal government power and deference to states’ rights. Yet all three of them signed on to an <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/16/16-1275/55620/20180726162704872_Virginia%20Uranium%20-%20Merits%20Amicus%20Brief%20-%2007.26.2018.pdf">amicus brief</a> in support of <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/16-1275">Virginia Uranium, Inc.’s</a> sweeping view of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s role in this instance. </p>
<p>On the flip side, <a href="https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/05/07/states-resist-trumps-environmental-agenda/">environmentalists are gaining an appreciation</a> for the value of state initiatives, like Virginia’s mining ban, which can provide a bulwark against environmental rollbacks from the Trump administration.</p>
<p>Before the Supreme Court, I co-authored, with former Virginia Attorney General <a href="https://www.eckertseamans.com/our-people/anthony-f-troy">Tony Troy</a>, another <a href="https://www.law.virginia.edu/news/201809/environmental-clinic-brief-defends-virginia%E2%80%99s-uranium-mining-ban">amicus brief</a> defending the state law. We filed it on behalf of <a href="https://apps.senate.virginia.gov/Senator/memberpage.php?id=S82">six</a> <a href="https://apps.senate.virginia.gov/Senator/memberpage.php?id=S59">members</a> <a href="https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=h0252">of the</a> <a href="https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=H0216">Virginia</a> <a href="https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=H0150">General</a> <a href="https://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php?id=H0136">Assembly</a> who represent affected communities and on behalf of <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/16/16-1275/62611/20180904162044841_AMICUS%20BRIEF%20IN%20SUPPORT%20OF%20RESPONDENTS%20FOR%20SOUTHERN%20VIRGINIA%20DELEGATION%20ET%20AL.pdf">local chambers of commerce; civic, trade and economic development associations; and municipalities</a>. </p>
<h2>Economic interests</h2>
<p>Virginia Uranium claims that its proposed mining site, about 220 miles southwest of Washington, D.C., could generate <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/16-1275-cert-petition.pdf#page=258">US$4.8 billion</a> in net revenue for Virginia businesses. </p>
<p>Uranium oxide, commonly <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/yellowcake.html">known as yellowcake</a>, can be enriched to produce the fuel that powers the nation’s nuclear reactors. But first it has to be extracted from the ground, which is a monumentally significant undertaking. Producing the 133 million pounds of yellowcake that the company thinks it can develop would require mining more than <a href="http://virginiaenergyresources.com/i/pdf/VUI-Coles-Hill-PEA-Updated-Technical-Report-Aug19.pdf#page=11">267 billion pounds of raw ore</a>, which is roughly 365 times the weight of <a href="http://www.esbnyc.com/sites/default/files/esb_fact_sheet_final_0.pdf">the Empire State Building</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.southernenvironment.org/cases-and-projects/fact-sheets/a-summary-of-key-findings-from-national-academy-of-sciences-report-uranium">Green groups</a> seized on a report published by the <a href="https://www.nap.edu/catalog/13266/uranium-mining-in-virginia-scientific-technical-environmental-human-health-and">National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine</a>, which found that uranium mining increases the incidences of cancer, acidification of local waterways, and the emission of soot and smog-forming pollutants from industrial equipment.</p>
<p>Local businesses joined environmentalists in pushing back. The <a href="https://www.godanriver.com/news/pittsylvania_county/uranium/in-multi-faceted-case-that-defies-political-stereotypes-highest-court/article_f630b634-dfb0-11e8-8e74-ebc58661f835.html">Danville Pittsylvania County Chamber of Commerce</a> opposes the mining project, out of concern about the potential harm to agriculture, tourism and other economic development opportunities.</p>
<p>Agriculture and forestry-related industries provided the counties adjacent to the proposed mine site with an estimated <a href="https://ceps.coopercenter.org/sites/ceps/files/Ag_Forestry_Study_2017-05.pdf#page=63">$5.4 billion in total economic benefits</a> in 2015, according to the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service’s analysis. </p>
<p>Cognizant of the boom-and-bust nature of the uranium mining industry, economic development leaders in Southern Virginia have expressed fears that Virginia Uranium could leave behind a shuttered mine and a <a href="https://www.virginiamercury.com/2018/11/05/virginias-36-year-old-uranium-mining-ban-is-on-the-supreme-courts-docket/">weakened local economy</a>.</p>
<p>Under the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-atomic-energy-act">Atomic Energy Act</a>, states retain jurisdiction over conventional uranium mining. The federal government lacks authority over uranium ore “<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/2095">prior to removal from its place of deposit in nature</a>,” when it is milled into yellowcake. </p>
<p>Virginia’s law speaks exclusively to state-controlled mining and bans only that activity. Mining proponents, however, insist that the state’s motive for enacting this ban was a concern about safety hazards associated with the storage of <a href="http://www.virginiaenergyresources.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=718457&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Virginia-Energy-Files-Federal-Suit-Against-Commonwealth-of-Virginia">radioactive tailings</a> from the milling process – issues traditionally addressed by the <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/">Nuclear Regulatory Commission</a>.</p>
<h2>The Supreme Court delves in</h2>
<p>When the <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/16-1275">Supreme Court heard oral argument</a> on the case, on Nov. 5, 2018, the court considered whether state legislators should be left free to prohibit mining if they find that the harms outweigh the benefits.</p>
<p>The justices also probed whether the Atomic Energy Act could effectively mandate mining at the state level to provide ore for federally regulated milling operations.</p>
<p>As they delved into these questions, it became clear that conventional assumptions about federal authority and states’ rights might not apply. </p>
<p>Justices <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/2018/11/argument-analysis-justices-express-skepticism-over-using-legislative-motive-in-pre-emption-analysis/">Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan</a>, both liberal justices appointed by President Barack Obama, voiced a reluctance to infringe on a state’s traditional lawmaking authority – the kind of concern typically raised by judicial conservatives. To that point, Justice <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-is-neil-gorsuch-72142">Neil Gorsuch</a> approvingly referred to Kagan’s observations and suggested that his view of the case shared a similar skepticism. </p>
<p>Justice <a href="https://theconversation.com/kavanaughs-judge-as-umpire-metaphor-sounds-neutral-but-its-deeply-conservative-102820">Brett Kavanaugh</a> departed from conservative orthodoxy and appeared to call for a pragmatic interpretation of Virginia’s law. He asked whether state-controlled mining and federally regulated milling might be inextricably interconnected.</p>
<p>Justice <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2018/16-1275_2q24.pdf#page=41">Stephen Breyer</a>, who reflected on his 24 years on the Supreme Court bench, observed that “every judge, as far as I know, including Justice Scalia, whom we used to talk about this, sometimes will look to a statute’s purpose” and depart from the plain text.</p>
<p>Both Kavanaugh’s and Breyer’s comments and questions hinted at an expansive view of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s purview. </p>
<p>But as Breyer implied, it might be the legacy of Justice Scalia that looms large when the court announces its decision. Gorsuch had kicked off oral argument by citing <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/2010/03/analysis-sorting-out-an-erie-sequel/">a Scalia opinion</a> explaining why federal courts should avoid an inquiry into state motives.</p>
<p>That Kagan and Sotomayor were also interested in this narrower inquiry into state legislative action suggests that conventional wisdom about judicial philosophies might not hold in this case.</p>
<p>A ruling is expected before the end of June 2019.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cale Jaffe served as counsel of record before the Supreme Court for the Members of the Southern Virginia Delegation to the Virginia General Assembly, Local Chambers of Commerce, Civic, Trade, and Economic Development Associations, and Municipalities, who filed an amicus brief supporting Virginia's uranium mining ban. He previously served as director of the Virginia office of the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), and currently volunteers as chair of the board of directors for the Virginia Conservation Network (VCN). SELC and VCN also support Virginia's prohibition on uranium mining.</span></em></p>Distrusting large federal bureaucracies isn’t reserved for conservatives anymore.Cale Jaffe, Assistant Professor of Law and Director, Environmental and Regulatory Law Clinic, University of VirginiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/912042018-02-22T11:39:28Z2018-02-22T11:39:28ZBefore the US approves new uranium mining, consider its toxic legacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207169/original/file-20180220-116368-asyc7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Warning sign at Kerr-McGee uranium mill site near Grants, N.M., December 20, 2007.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Uranium-Capital-Comeback/59640af3634b450fb1b3f16efabae274/92/0">AP photo/Susan Montoya Bryan</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Uranium – the raw material for nuclear power and nuclear weapons – is having a moment in the spotlight.</p>
<p>Companies such as <a href="http://www.energyfuels.com/">Energy Fuels, Inc.</a> have played <a href="https://www.cpr.org/news/story/why-a-colorado-uranium-company-lobbied-to-shrink-bears-ears-national-monument">well-publicized roles</a> in lobbying the Trump administration to reduce federal protection for <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2017/12/13/energy-fuels-was-one-voice-among-many-in-bears-ears-debate/">public lands</a> with uranium deposits. The Defense Department’s Nuclear Posture Review calls for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-unveils-new-nuclear-weapons-strategy-ending-obama-era-push-to-reduce-us-arsenal/2018/02/02/fd72ad34-0839-11e8-ae28-e370b74ea9a7_story.html?utm_term=.a76bd932061e">new weapons production</a> to expand the U.S. nuclear arsenal, which could spur new domestic uranium mining. And the Interior Department is advocating more domestic uranium production, along with other materials identified as “<a href="https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/interior-seeks-public-comment-draft-list-35-minerals-deemed-critical-us-national">critical minerals</a>.” </p>
<p>What would expanded uranium mining in the U.S. mean at the local level? I have studied the legacies of past uranium mining and milling in Western states for over a decade. My <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-price-of-nuclear-power/9780813569789">book</a> examines dilemmas faced by uranium communities caught between harmful legacies of previous mining booms and the potential promise of new economic development.</p>
<p>These people and places are invisible to most Americans, but they helped make the United States an economic and military superpower. In my view, we owe it to them to learn from past mistakes and make more informed and sustainable decisions about possibly renewing uranium production than our nation made in the past.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207315/original/file-20180221-132647-10ge0wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://need-media.smugmug.com/Graphics/Graphics/i-wQB55bt">National Energy Education Development Project</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mining regulations have failed to protect public health</h2>
<p>Today most of the uranium that powers U.S. nuclear reactors is imported. But many communities still suffer impacts of <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/10/473547227/for-the-navajo-nation-uranium-minings-deadly-legacy-lingers">uranium mining</a> and milling that occurred for decades to fuel the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race. These include <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b01408">environmental contamination</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1963288/">toxic spills</a>, abandoned mines, under-addressed <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222290/">cancer and disease clusters</a> and <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08941920903005795">illnesses</a> that citizens link to uranium exposure despite federal denials. </p>
<p>As World War II phased into the Cold War, U.S. officials rapidly increased uranium production from the 1940s to the 1960s. Regulations were minimal to nonexistent and largely unenforced, even though the <a href="https://bioethicsarchive.georgetown.edu/achre/final/chap12_2.html">U.S. Public Health Service</a> knew that exposure to uranium had caused potentially fatal health effects in <a href="https://upcolorado.com/utah-state-university-press/item/2171-uranium-frenzy">Europe</a>, and
was monitoring uranium miners and millers for health problems. </p>
<p>Today the industry is subject to regulations that address worker health and safety, environmental protection, treatment of contaminated sites and other <a href="http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.92.9.1410">considerations</a>. But these regulations <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/13266/chapter/10#225">lack uniformity</a>, and enforcement responsibilities are spread across multiple agencies. </p>
<p>This creates significant regulatory gaps, which are worsened by a federalist approach to regulation. In the 1970s the newly created Nuclear Regulatory Commission initiated an <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/state-tribal/agreement-states.html">Agreement States</a> program, under which states take over regulating many aspects of uranium and nuclear production and waste storage. To qualify, state programs <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/state-tribal/agreement-states/wyoming-faq.html">must be</a> “adequate to protect public health and safety and compatible with the NRC’s regulatory program.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207172/original/file-20180220-116346-xgy3pg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Orphan uranium mine on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon operated from 1956-1969 and is now a radioactive waste site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Orphan_Mine%2C_Grand_Canyon_National_Park.jpg">Alan Levine</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/images/reading-rm/doc-collections/maps/agreement-states.png">37 states</a> have joined this program and two more are applying. Many Agreement States struggle to enforce regulations because of <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-price-of-nuclear-power/9780813569789">underfunded budgets, lack of staff and anti-regulatory cultures</a>. These problems can lead to piecemeal enforcement and reliance on corporate self-regulation. </p>
<p>For example, budget cuts in Colorado have forced the state to <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/the-price-of-nuclear-power/9780813569789">rely frequently on energy companies</a> to monitor their own compliance with regulations. In Utah, the <a href="http://www.hcn.org/articles/opinion-pollution-a-uranium-mill-in-utah-threatens-to-repeat-a-history-of-pollution">White Mesa Mill</a> – our nation’s only currently operating uranium mill – has a record of persistent problems related to permitting, water contamination and environmental health, as well as tribal sacred lands and artifacts. </p>
<h2>Neglected nuclear legacies</h2>
<p>Uranium still affects the <a href="http://www.hcn.org/articles/pollution-a-26-000-ton-pile-of-radioactive-waste-lies-under-the-waters-and-silt-of-lake-powell">environment</a> and human health in the West, but its impacts remain woefully under-addressed. Some of the poorest, most isolated and ethnically marginalized communities in the nation are bearing the brunt of these legacies. </p>
<p>There are approximately <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1129580/researchers-to-measure-mixed-metals-mining-contamination-on-native-americans.html">4,000 abandoned uranium mines</a> in Western states. At least 500 are located on land controlled by the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/10/473547227/for-the-navajo-nation-uranium-minings-deadly-legacy-lingers">Navajo Nation</a>. Diné (Navajo) people have <a href="http://www.sric.org">suffered some of the worst</a> consequences of U.S. uranium production, including cancer clusters and water contamination. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.est.5b01408">A 2015 study</a> found that about 85 percent of Diné homes are still contaminated with uranium, and that tribe members living near uranium mines have more uranium in their bones than 95 percent of the U.S. population. Unsurprisingly, President Donald Trump’s decision to reduce the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/12/native-tribes-sue-trump-bears-ears-monument-171206125555058.html">Bears Ears National Monument</a> has reinvigorated discussion over <a href="http://www.hcn.org/articles/tribal-affairs-trumps-message-for-tribes-let-them-eat-yellowcake">ongoing impacts of uranium contamination</a> across tribal and public land. </p>
<p>Despite legislation such as the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/civil/common/reca">Radiation Exposure Compensation Act</a> of 1990, people who lived near uranium production or contamination sites often became forgotten casualties of the Cold War. For instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920903005795">Monticello, Utah</a>, hosted a federally owned uranium mill from 1942 to 1960. Portions of the town were even <a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0800679">built from tailings</a> left over from uranium milling, which we now know were radioactive. This created two <a href="https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?id=0800867">Superfund sites</a> that were not fully remediated until the late 1990s. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AbhTcQGx17I?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Uranium-contaminated structures in the Navajo Nation.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Monticello residents have dealt with <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/pha/MonticelloMillTailings/MonticelloMillTailingsPHAFinalBlue02262014_508.pdf">cancer clusters, increased rates of birth defects and other health abnormalities</a> for decades. Although the community has sought federal recognition and compensation since 1993, its requests have been <a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/rural-communities-can-t-afford-the-cost-of-nuclear-power">largely ignored</a>.</p>
<p>Today tensions over water access and its use for uranium mining are creating conflict between regional tribes and corporate water users around the <a href="https://www.indianz.com/News/2017/12/13/havasupai-tribe-sees-mixed-victory-in-li.asp">North Rim of the Grand Canyon</a>. Native residents, such as the Havasupai, have had to defend their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jul/17/grand-canyon-uranium-mining-havasupai-tribe-water-source">water rights</a> and fear losing access to this vital resource.</p>
<h2>Uranium production is a boom-and-bust industry</h2>
<p>Like any economic activity <a href="http://www.hcn.org/articles/boom-bust">based on commodities</a>, uranium production is volatile and unstable. The industry has a <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/article/uranium-boom-uranium-bust-cm258599">history of boom-bust cycles</a>. Communities that depend on it can be whipsawed by rapid growth followed by destabilizing population losses.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/governing-uranium-united-states">first U.S. uranium boom</a> occurred during the early Cold War and ended in the 1960s due to oversupply, triggering a bust. A second boom began later in the decade when the federal government authorized private commercial investment in nuclear power. But the <a href="https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html">Three Mile Island</a> (1979) and <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx">Chernobyl</a> (1985) disasters ended this second boom. </p>
<p>Uranium prices soared once again from 2007 to 2010. But the 2011 tsunami and meltdown at Japan’s <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/fukushima-accident.aspx">Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant</a> sent prices plummeting once again as nations looked for alternatives to nuclear power.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207178/original/file-20180220-116346-18o73tz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">U.S. uranium production, 1949-2011.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Companies like Energy Fuels maintain – especially in <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/09/13/the-uranium-widows">public meetings with uranium communities</a> – that new production will lead to <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/auk.2014.36.issue-2/auk-2014-0205/auk-2014-0205.pdf">sustained economic growth</a>. This message is powerful stuff. It boosts support, sometimes in the very communities that have suffered most from past practices. </p>
<p>But I have interviewed Westerners who worry that as production methods become more technologically advanced and mechanized, energy companies may increasingly rely on bringing in out-of-town workers with technical and engineering degrees rather than hiring locals – as has happened in the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2017/01/25/automation-guarantees-a-bleak-outlook-for-trumps-promises-to-coal-miners/">coal industry</a>. And the core tensions of boom-bust economic volatility and instability persist. </p>
<p>Uranium production advocates contend that new <a href="http://www.telluridenews.com/the_watch/news/article_a2195dcf-fe4f-5039-bc80-cd52b67ebbf8.html">“environmentally friendly” mills</a> and <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/governing-uranium-united-states">current federal regulations</a> will adequately protect public health and the environment. Yet they offer little evidence to counter White Mesa Mill’s poor record.</p>
<p>In my view, there is little evidence that new uranium production would be more reliably regulated or economically stable today than in the past. Instead, I expect that the industry will continue to privatize profits as the public absorbs and subsidizes its risks.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91204/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephanie Malin receives funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the American Sociological Association's Spivack Community Action Research Initiative Grant, the Rural Sociological Society's Early Career Award, and the CSU Water Center and School for Global Environmental Sustainability. </span></em></p>The Trump administration’s push for ‘energy dominance’ could spur a new wave of domestic uranium production. A scholar describes the damage done in past uranium booms and the visible scars that remain.Stephanie Malin, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Colorado State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/416152015-05-20T20:05:12Z2015-05-20T20:05:12ZIs nuclear power zero-emission? No, but it isn’t high-emission either<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82175/original/image-20150519-25441-176gf4e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C4%2C995%2C622&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">You need to take a wider view to work out the true greenhouse emissions from nuclear power.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Teollisuuden Voima Oy/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nuclear power is <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/julie-bishop-reopens-nuclear-debate-as-route-to-cut-carbon-dioxide-emissions-20141129-11w17k.html">sometimes described as being free of greenhouse gas emissions</a>, and that’s true of the nuclear fission reactions themselves. But here is a list of all the stages of the nuclear power cycle at which greenhouse gases are emitted: uranium mining, uranium milling, conversion of uranium ore to uranium hexafluoride, uranium enrichment, fuel fabrication, reactor construction, reactor decommissioning, fuel reprocessing, nuclear waste disposal, mine site rehabilitation, and transport throughout all stages. </p>
<p>During these stages, greenhouse gases are emitted directly (for instance, by trucks) but also indirectly (such as through the use of materials such as steel and cement, which are manufactured using emissions-intensive processes).</p>
<p>Quantifying all these emissions is a complicated prospect, but we can attempt to do it using a method called “life-cycle assessment”. The result of one such estimate (with which I agree) is quoted in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s <a href="http://srren.ipcc-wg3.de/report/IPCC_SRREN_Ch09.pdf">Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation</a> (see pages 731-2).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/81417/original/image-20150512-25044-o2pzou.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How nuclear stacks up against other energy sources in terms of life-cycle emissions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This shows that despite the long list of stages at which greenhouse gases are emitted, and based on what researchers have been able to take into account so far, the overall life-cycle emissions for nuclear power are likely to be lower than for fossil fuels. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890408000575">My review of various estimates</a> suggests that the greenhouse emissions from nuclear power vary from 10 to 130 grams of CO<sub>2</sub> per kilowatt hour of power, with an average of 65 g per kWh – or roughly the same as wind power. For comparison, coal power has emissions of about 900 g per kWh, and gas-fired power about 450 g per kWh. About 15-25% of nuclear’s greenhouse emissions come from building, maintaining and decommissioning the nuclear power plant. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.stormsmith.nl/i05.html">Another analysis</a>, by energy consultants Jan Willem Storm van Leeuwen and Philip Smith, forecast that the emissions from nuclear power could ultimately rival those from natural gas. But this high estimate is a clear outlier among the results shown in the IPCC assessment, and this was largely because it assumed that uranium mines will need to be fully restored to “greenfield sites” – something that most analysts have not considered necessary.</p>
<p>But why is the range of accepted estimates so broad? To answer that here’s another list, of factors that can influence the calculation: the grade (purity) of the ore; the uranium enrichment method; the age and efficiency of the reactor; and the assumptions used in the calculation method. Unfortunately, these assumptions can have a large effect on the outcome – indeed, they are probably the <a href="http://www.isa.org.usyd.edu.au/publications/documents/ISA_Nuclear_Report.pdf">biggest source of variation between competing analyses</a>.</p>
<h2>Calculation considerations</h2>
<p>Some analyses choose to ignore many of the supply-chain processes – such as, for instance, the greenhouse gases emitted during the mining of iron ore needed for making steel, which is needed for making trucks, which is needed for transporting the cement used to build a reactor. And so on, millions and millions of supply chains. It is all fiendishly complicated, of course, but ignoring these supply-chain contributions leads to significant systematic errors. </p>
<p>It’s worth noting that many studies on the life-cycle emissions of wind and solar power are also affected by similar errors, and real life-cycle emissions are often underestimated for these technologies too. However, for most renewable energy sources, their supply-chain emissions are still way below those of fossil-fuelled plants (see the table above).</p>
<p>The ore grade also has a significant impact on the overall emissions, because the less pure the ore, the more material has to be processed to extract the uranium. The calculation is made even more complicated by the fact that in some mines, such as Australia’s <a href="http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/olympic-dam/">Olympic Dam</a>, uranium is extracted as a by-product of other mining (in this case copper), meaning that not all of the greenhouse emissions should be attributed to the uranium.</p>
<p>Once the uranium is out of the ground and has been milled to form the dry ore concentrate called “yellowcake”, it must then be “enriched” to increase the proportion of fissile uranium enough for it to work as nuclear fuel. Each method has different greenhouse emissions: <a href="http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/ur-enrichment.html#3">centrifuge enrichment</a>, for instance, needs much less energy than <a href="http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/ur-enrichment.html#2">gaseous diffusion</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82174/original/image-20150519-25400-1o4y7ru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fuel rods are zero-emission once you get them into the reactor - but getting them to that stage is not.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ARIAN_archive_132603_Nuclear_power_reactor_fuel_assembly.jpg">Ruslan Krivobok/Russian International News Agency/Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cleaning up</h2>
<p>The final factor to consider is the greenhouse emissions associated with cleaning up the uranium mine. The energy needed essentially depends on judgements of what constitutes safe practices with regard to minimizing radioactivity and exposure to toxic heavy metals in the leftover mine tailings.</p>
<p>At the time of extraction of the uranium from the ore, <a href="REF">about 85% of the original radioactivity remains in the mill tailings</a>, mainly as isotopes of thorium and radon. While emissions and safety standards have vastly improved since the 1950s, it is still not clear how safe the current mine rehabilitation efforts are. According to the <a href="LINK">United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)</a>, the global component from mill tailings is the most significant source of radiological exposure in the entire nuclear fuel chain.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/82176/original/image-20150519-25417-16xp5w2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activities at the uranium mine have a bearing on greenhouse emissions, as well what happens at the nuclear reactor itself.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dustin M. Ramsey/Wikimedia Commons</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The main reason that Storm van Leeuwen and Smith’s estimate of life-cycle emissions was so high is that they assumed that uranium mine tailings will need to be dealt with by sandwiching them between layers of bentonite clay to contain the radiation. Yet my <a href="http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/3/3/462">review of the available data</a> suggested that current mine rehabilitation leads to average radiological exposures that are less than one-tenth of the doses received by people living in locations with naturally high concentrations of radioactive elements in soil and rocks, where no increased lung cancer incidence has been detected. If this is true, and barring any wider safety management issues, it suggests that there is no need to adopt new, emissions-intensive measures to rehabilitate uranium mines.</p>
<p>Like in any other scientific assessment, our conclusions about the nuclear fuel cycle are based on what we know, and our knowledge is still incomplete. There are still uncertainties, especially when it comes to making judgements about how to deal with radioactive decay processes that will continue for thousands of years. Our results are also often based on average conditions, and do not take into account extreme events such as reactor accidents or nuclear waste spills. </p>
<p>One thing is clear though: ultimately, the greenhouse emissions from nuclear power are a product of the fact that almost every aspect of the process, bar the nuclear fission itself, requires energy – and it is still the case that most of the world’s energy comes from fossil fuels.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/41615/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Manfred Lenzen has received and receives research funding from the Australian Government. The assessment of the life-cycle energy and greenhouse gas emissions of nuclear energy in Australia was funded by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet for its Uranium Mining, Processing and Nuclear Energy Review (UMPNER). Manfred Lenzen has previously and once received funding from the Australian Uranium Association, for a study unrelated to this article (a review of subsidies for electricity-generating technologies, also declared in the corresponding publication by Badcock & Lenzen, Energy Policy 8(9), 5038-5047, 2010).</span></em></p>Nuclear power isn’t ‘zero-emission’, as many proponents claim. Factor in uranium mining, power plant construction, and other factors and it has similar emissions to wind power. But that’s still lower than fossil fuels.Manfred Lenzen, Professor of Sustainability Research, School of Physics, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/281052014-07-01T03:43:11Z2014-07-01T03:43:11ZQueensland lifts its uranium ban, but is the price worth the cost?<p>As of today, Queensland has lifted a 32-year <a href="http://mines.industry.qld.gov.au/mining/uranium.htm">ban on uranium mining</a>. That decision was taken <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3616102.htm">within months of the 2012 state election</a>, despite Premier Campbell Newman’s pre-election promise not to restart mining the radioactive mineral.</p>
<p>Miners are being invited to apply to restart the industry under the Queensland’s government’s uranium <a href="http://mines.industry.qld.gov.au/assets/Uranium-mining/uranium-action-plan.pdf">action plan</a>, which will mean Canadian company Mega Uranium can reopen the Ben Lomond and other mines in north Queensland. </p>
<p>Queensland’s resumption of uranium mining comes only days after Australia’s newest uranium mine, <a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/mining-company-quasar-opens-four-mile-uranium-mine-near-arkaloola/story-fni6uma6-1226966919583">Four Mile in South Australia</a>, officially opened on <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-25/four-mile-becomes-newest-urdanium-mine/5549648">25 June</a>.</p>
<p>Yet the price of uranium has <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/price-fallout-hits-uranium-mines/story-e6frg8zx-1226966903070">fallen from a high in 2007 of US$70 a pound to $US28</a>, due to factors including <a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2014/05/21/uranium-supply-cuts-needed-as-spot-price-continues-to-tumble/">oversupply</a> and what the Wall Street Journal has described as a <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/02/06/uranium-industry-remains-in-post-fukushima-funk/">“post-Fukushima funk”</a>.</p>
<p>Given the prices are so low that <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/price-fallout-hits-uranium-mines/story-e6frg8zx-1226966903070">The Australian has reported</a> that Four Mile is already losing money, while the Beverley mine has been mothballed since January, why are Australian states looking to open more mines? </p>
<h2>Australia’s main uranium deposits</h2>
<p>Australia is the <a href="http://www.ga.gov.au/energy/uranium-thorium.html">world’s third-biggest uranium producer</a>, after Kazakhstan and Canada. According to the World Nuclear Association, the industry <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Australia/">generated A$823 million in uranium exports in 2012/13</a>, along with about <a href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Australia/">A$21 million</a> in royalties in Australia each year, with the bulk coming from the Ranger mine. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=162&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=162&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=162&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52208/original/g45bkbn8-1403683949.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=203&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recent uranium production in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Australia/">World Nuclear Association</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Uranium mining at Queensland’s Ben Lomond site was halted in 1982, ahead of the <a href="http://www.australianuranium.com.au/files/Research%20Note%20-%20Australian%20Uranium%20Overview%20-%20February%202009.pdf">“three mines policy”</a> introduced by the incoming Hawke Labor government in 1983. The policy restricted Australian uranium mining to three sites: Ranger and Nabarlek in the Northern Territory and Olympic Dam at Roxby Downs in South Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52210/original/rrjbx2pn-1403684116.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s uranium past and present mines, as well as major deposits. The newly opened Four Mile is yet to be added to this map.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Australia/">World Nuclear Association, April 2014.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The three mines policy was officially abandoned in 1996 by the Howard government, but uranium mining has been slow to flourish since then. </p>
<p>Until last week, just four mines operated. Narbarlek was decommissioned in 1994/95, while South Australia’s Beverley mine (<a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/price-fallout-hits-uranium-mines/story-e6frg8zx-1226966903070">currently mothballed</a>) opened in 2001, Honeymoon in 2011 and now <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-25/four-mile-becomes-newest-uranium-mine/5549648">Four Mile</a> has opened.</p>
<h2>Our nuclear history</h2>
<p>With Australia holding around a third of the planet’s uranium resources, it’s no surprise politicians have toyed with exploiting the atom since World War II. </p>
<p>In 1941, Australian physicist Mark Oliphant indiscreetly told an Australian diplomat in the UK that nuclear energy derived from uranium was being developed <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20323144?selectedversion=NBD8137590">secretly for both war and industry</a>.</p>
<p>After World War II, the boom in infrastructure building made powering growth even more important. Uranium was known to be a high-grade energy source: about 120,000 tonnes of <a href="http://www.sciencearchive.org.au/nova/002/002key.html?q=nova/002/002key.htm">black coal</a> (or 350,000 tonnes of brown coal) would need to be burnt to obtain the energy of just one tonne of uranium fuel. </p>
<p>During the 1950s, as the British <a href="https://theconversation.com/dig-for-secrets-the-lesson-of-maralingas-vixen-b-15456">tested their nuclear weapons</a> in Australia, nuclear power seemed to promise a self-sufficient energy future, not to mention export wealth and national security.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27671/original/s4tnn823-1374115665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/27671/original/s4tnn823-1374115665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27671/original/s4tnn823-1374115665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27671/original/s4tnn823-1374115665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27671/original/s4tnn823-1374115665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27671/original/s4tnn823-1374115665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/27671/original/s4tnn823-1374115665.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=555&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maralinga trees after a blast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy of Liz Tynan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1949, extensive uranium deposits were discovered in the Northern Territory, at Rum Jungle, and in Queensland and South Australia soon after. Uranium from these mines powered British nuclear weapons that were tested on Australian soil. The later Non-Proliferation Treaty that Australia signed in 1970 and ratified in 1972 restricted the use of Australian uranium to <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2011-2012/UraniumPolicy">peaceful purposes</a>. </p>
<p>In the 1970s, under the Fraser Coalition government, Australia became a major exporter of uranium. Japan, Iran, Italy and the European Economic Community emerged as buyers, and after much political debate, the terms of sale for Australian uranium were finally struck. The ALP, frequently conflicted over uranium mining and export, adopted as its policy a moratorium on export of uranium, and would later amend this to the compromise of the three mines policy, which it has since abandoned.</p>
<h2>Is Australia set for a new nuclear era?</h2>
<p>Until recently, Australia banned the sale of uranium to India since that country was not party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. </p>
<p>Under Labor’s Julia Gillard, that <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-australia-sell-uranium-to-india-4290">ban was overturned</a>, potentially opening a huge new market.</p>
<p>Uranium prices have dropped 30% in the past 12 months, to a low of <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/uranium-fall-dents-olympic-outlook/story-e6frg8zx-1226932345135?nk=0dd264918df6c0ad12accf7bc77b2ad7">$US28 a pound</a>. Not until 2020, with the probable reopening of the Japanese nuclear power stations and expansion of the markets in China, is uranium expected to turn a profit.</p>
<p>The price of uranium remains depressed, but as countries decide to tackle climate change by switching to nuclear power <a href="http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL6N0P43W320140623?sp=true">the market for uranium could rise again</a>.</p>
<h2>Battles ahead over Queensland exports</h2>
<p>The highest concentration of Queensland’s uranium mines sit in the northern tropics, an area prone to <a href="http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/about/intensity.shtml">Category 5 cyclones</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/131217/ncomms3942/full/ncomms3942.html">A 2013 Swiss study</a> found uranium was far more mobile than originally thought. Uranium once extracted, becomes soluble in water, increasing the chances of contamination or radioactive dust carried in <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/investigations/health/665988/shocking_legacy_of_uranium_poisonings_haunts_obamas_looming_mining_decision.html">high winds and heavy rainfall</a>.</p>
<p>If Ben Lomond is reopened, the quickest way to export its uranium would be through the city of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townsville">Townsville</a>, home to 190,000 people, which is only 50km from the mine.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52187/original/7vknpqh2-1403675944.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The location of the Ben Lomond mine in Queensland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.megauranium.com/properties/australia/ben_lomond/">Mega Uranium</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Port of Townsville has said it has the capability to <a href="http://mines.industry.qld.gov.au/assets/Uranium-mining/Port-of-Townsville.pdf">“facilitate the transportation and export of yellowcake”</a>. The Queensland’s government’s uranium <a href="http://mines.industry.qld.gov.au/assets/Uranium-mining/uranium-action-plan.pdf">action plan recommends that:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Queensland’s efforts should be [put] on facilitating the use of existing ports and shipping lanes by industry for the export of uranium.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, the Port of Townsville sits within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and close to sensitive environments including the <a href="http:www.gbrmpa.gov.auabout-usconsultationcurrent-proposals-under-assessmentport-of-townsville-expansion">Great Barrier Reef Marine Park</a>, dugong protected areas, seagrass beds, fringing coral reefs and mangrove forests. </p>
<p>Last year, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority chairman <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/russell-reichelt-14158/profile_bio">Russell Reichelt</a> told the ABC that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think shipping of any toxic cargo would be of concern. But really we would have to see a proposal and we would have to consider that.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So this is set to be a contentious issue: while economic development of the north has bipartisan support at a federal, state and local government level, <a href="http://www.foe.org.au/queensland-campaign-against-uranium-mining">a number of locals and environmental groups</a> have said they will challenge any plans to reopen uranium mines and exports from Queensland. </p>
<p>The big question for Queensland residents to consider now is whether the return of uranium mining to the state will be worth the wait for the uranium price to recover, given the risks attached to transporting the mineral through populated and environmentally-sensitive areas.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/28105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As of today, Queensland has lifted a 32-year ban on uranium mining. That decision was taken within months of the 2012 state election, despite Premier Campbell Newman’s pre-election promise not to restart…Maxine Newlands, Lecturer in Journalism, Researcher in Environmental Politics, James Cook UniversityLiz Tynan, Senior Lecturer and Co-ordinator Research Student Academic Support, James Cook UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214092013-12-13T01:24:06Z2013-12-13T01:24:06ZRanger’s toxic spill highlights the perils of self-regulation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37620/original/kg683zh6-1386888630.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The collapsed leach tank at the Ranger mine in Kakadu National Park.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Supplied by Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The latest accident at the Ranger uranium mine is a timely reminder of the environmental risks of operating a heavy industry facility: especially a uranium mine on Indigenous land, surrounded by the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.</p>
<p>But beyond the events of this week, Ranger is a symptom of a much bigger problem of extraordinarily weak environmental regulation.</p>
<p>Before you can take a prescription drug, get on a plane or drive a car, there have been rigorous, independent tests done to minimise the risks of harm to you. We don’t leave it largely up to pharmaceutical or car companies to tell us we’re safe.</p>
<p>So we don’t we apply those same precautionary standards to a mine in the heart of Kakadu?</p>
<h2>Ranger’s troubled history</h2>
<p>Last Saturday, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-07/spill-at-nt-uranium-mine-near-kakadu/5142148">one of the 10 large acid leach tanks at Ranger completely collapsed</a> – spilling some one million litres of acidic radioactive ore slurry into the adjacent mill area.</p>
<p>The slurry burst over bunds that are meant to contain such an accident and entered the mill stormwater drainage system which goes to a mine water retention pond. </p>
<p>This is the latest in <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/9861573?q&versionId=11451588+46687228">more than 200 environmental incidents</a> at Ranger since 1979, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>January to June 2011 – Mill shutdown due to a very big wet season leading to limited remaining storage volume for process water in the tailings dam. Luckily there was no big cyclone at the end of the wet season increasing the risk of the tailings dam over-filling (a very low chance but obviously catastrophic accident if the tailings dam failed and burst into the wetlands of Kakadu).</p></li>
<li><p>March 2004 – <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/archive/media/dept-mr/ss26mar04.html">Process water accidentally connected to drinking water</a>, which saw <a href="http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=926">28 workers shower in and drink water</a> that was contaminated with levels of uranium 400 times the safe maximum under Australian standards. A further 131 workers were also potentially exposed to contaminated water. Ranger’s operator, <a href="http://www.edie.net/news/3/ERA-mining-fined-for-uranium-contamination-of-water-for-workers/10034/">ERA, was later prosecuted</a> for the first time.</p></li>
<li><p>February 2002 – Incorrect stockpiling of low grade ore led to the escape of uranium contaminated water in the headwaters of Corridor Creek on the southern side of the mine.</p></li>
<li><p>December 1995 – Spillage of 12,000 litres of diesel into a mine water retention pond, which led to 40 bird deaths.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>While the extensive list of publicly known incidents contains many of somewhat minor significance, the repeated serious incidents point to a more systemic and underlying problem.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37623/original/n47z3hqs-1386888808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=486&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ranger uranium mine inside the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, taken in 2009.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Tara Ravens</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The uranium industry regularly boasts that Ranger is <a href="http://www.aua.org.au/DisplayFile.aspx?FileID=143">“one of the most heavily regulated and monitored mines in the world”</a> – and yet predictable industrial accidents still seem to occur at a greater frequency than your average facility.</p>
<p>Perhaps we are aware of the accidents partly because of the greater public scrutiny they’re under. </p>
<p>But in a bizarre coincidence, it has emerged that the collapse of a leach tank at Ranger was <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-11/ranger-uranium-spill-follow-namibia-mine-rio-tinto-era/5149686">the second such incident at a mine mainly owned by mining giant Rio Tinto</a> in less than a week. Precisely the same leach tank collapse also happened at the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/dec/11/radioactive-spill-similar-incident-at-rio-tinto-mine-days-earlier">Rössing uranium mine in Namibia</a>.</p>
<h2>Monitoring the monitors</h2>
<p>The deeper issue which the government and mining industry are desperate to avoid discussion of is regulatory capture. </p>
<p>Over the past few decades, environmental regulation has moved to a model where industry largely self-regulates and self-monitors, while government largely ticks a box to see if systems are in place to manage risks and minimise impacts.</p>
<p>There is very little high-level technical and industrial expertise left within government agencies that are supposed to oversee heavy industrial projects and ensure environmental protection, such as a Department of Mines or an Environmental Protection Authority (EPA).</p>
<p>Instead, our environmental “monitors” are poorly resourced and struggle to maintain staff, especially in light of the more attractive packages working for a company.</p>
<p>It is easy to direct some blame at the regulators, in this case the Northern Territory government. </p>
<p>And it remains unclear just how much action has been taken to independently assess the damage from last Saturday’s spill of radioactive material. <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-13/ranger-spill-tests/5154354">This morning, the ABC was reporting</a> that the Office of the Supervising Scientist had refused to comment about whether it has carried out its own tests.</p>
<p>But realistically Ranger and its owners must take the main blame. Under the modern era of effectively self-regulating, they built the tanks, they operated the mill, ran the internal inspection and maintenance program – and yet an acid leach tank still collapsed.</p>
<h2>Slaps on the wrist</h2>
<p>Across Australia, many local community groups watch their local mine breach statutory conditions and never get more than a slap on the wrist. Just a few examples include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Early 2009 – A large wet season caused solution ponds to overflow and a massive spill of acid heap leach solutions from the Lady Annie copper mine in western Queensland into the upper reaches of the Georgina River, part of the iconic Lake Eyre Basin.</p></li>
<li><p>February 2002 – A major spill of cyanide during transport in the Tanami Desert to the Tanami gold mines, killing 900 birds and a dingo.</p></li>
<li><p>2000s – Massive ongoing pollution of Hanrahan’s Creek from acid mine drainage pouring out from <a href="http://www.redbankcopper.com.au/investors-and-media/environment-study.html">the adjacent Redbank copper mine</a>. It operated for two years in the mid-1990s but had no rehabilitation bond.</p></li>
</ul>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/37662/original/xqg7z7rp-1386896538.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The chair of the Mineral Policy Institute Charles Roche and the author Gavin Mudd at Hanrahan’s Creek.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mineral Policy Institute/Jessie Boylan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Such failure to demonstrate safe practice and good environmental outcomes undermines public confidence, which often leads to legitimate concerns and even outright opposition to existing or new mines in a region. </p>
<p>Yet industry and government fail to make the links and think environmental regulation is still best left largely up to companies – and poorly resourced regulators often become the easy scapegoat.</p>
<h2>Learning from other industries</h2>
<p>Many other industries have learnt how to assess and greatly reduce the risk of catastrophic accidents. These include chemical plants, oil and gas refineries, and construction. </p>
<p>Even in the mining industry itself, 2012 was the first fatality free year for Western Australian mines - the result of decades of effort on safety systems and culture.</p>
<p>Other industries - such as pharmaceuticals, airlines and vehicle safety - have learnt to address public safety in rigorous, independent processes. </p>
<p>While accidents still happen (<em>cough cough</em> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill">BP</a>), in the main, the frequency would appear to be lower than for Ranger.</p>
<p>If governments are serious about public, worker and environmental safety, they need to ensure that regulators are properly skilled and resourced to inspect, assess and act independently without fear or favour. </p>
<p>They cannot let regulators become too close to industry and perceived to be captured and too lenient. In the end, regulatory capture erodes public confidence and reduces trust, leading to project delays, increased costs and greater risks. </p>
<p>Some obvious issues that must be addressed fully and publicly include: construction standards, training of workers, inspection and testing regimes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-the-difference-between-radiation-and-radioactivity-20014">radiation</a> safety, possible radiation-induced metal fatigue, chemical corrosion, workers’ safety, environmental impacts, monitoring and management, and structural safety.</p>
<p>The community simply does not accept the “trust us” mantra of a company and its spin doctors as good enough anymore – and nor should they. In the digital age, it is perfectly reasonable to expect real scientific evidence, independence and transparency.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21409/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Mudd consults to Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation (<a href="http://www.mirarr.net">www.mirarr.net</a>) and is the chair of the board of the Mineral Policy Institute. </span></em></p>The latest accident at the Ranger uranium mine is a timely reminder of the environmental risks of operating a heavy industry facility: especially a uranium mine on Indigenous land, surrounded by the World…Gavin Mudd, Senior Lecturer, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.