The state Senate has signed off on a bill to study whether uranium can be safely mined in Pittsylvania County. (You can find coverage by the Lynchburg News & Advance here.) This is a good thing: The Pittsylvania uranium deposits are among the richest in North America. Uranium mining could stimulate a major new industry for Southside Virginia, but uranium mining has the potential to do devastating environmental harm. Rather than stick our heads in the sand, we need to update ourselves on both the latest uranium mining techniques and the evidence for the harm that could result.
Meanwhile, the Senate has sidetracked a companion bill calling for a broader study of the nuclear industry in Virginia. SJ100, submitted by Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, would establish a joint subcommittee that would (1) address all aspects of the production of nuclear power, including the mining of uranium; (2) examine the economic development potential of nuclear power; (3) consider whether the General Assembly should take action to support the development of additional nuclear power facilities in the Commonwealth.
What the resolution does not explicitly say, but I would urge upon the Commonwealth: Virginia needs to study the prospect for building upon the presence of Dominion and its nuclear power plants, the Pittsylvania uranium deposits and nuclear services companies in Lynchburg and Newport News. We need to know: Does the potential exist to build a world-class nuclear power cluster — uranium mining, uranium processing, nuclear power plant design, nuclear power plant operation, nuclear power services — here in the Commonwealth?
I don’t pretend to understand the legislative workings of the General Assembly, but it appears that Cuccinelli’s bill has been incorporated into SJR133, sponored by Sen. Donald McEachin, D-Richmond, which would study the disposal of low-level nuclear waste. True, the two bills do contain the words “nuclear,” but otherwise they have virtually no overlap whatsoever. It appears that McEachin bill is getting kicked around from committee to committee, going nowhere fast.
I’m surprised that legislators from Southside and Central Virginia haven’t jumped on the chance to build a major new industry — a very high-paying one, I might add — in their region. Why are they letting Cuccinelli, from Northern Virginia, do the heavy lifting on this?
