Antinuclear

Queensland’s poor uranium market future

Australian Uranium Association’ Michael Angwin  fights the science on radioactive waste, even as Queensland’s bid for uranium mining has poor economic prospects.

LNP on fission trip with uranium industry dream
John McCarthy
The Courier-Mail
January 05, 2013 THE promised $18 billion industry from uranium mining
in Queensland is a pipe dream and would never eventuate, according to
environmental group Australian Conservation Foundation.

In its submission to the State Government’s Uranium Implementation
Committee, ACF said Queensland would be gambling on an industry that
would have environmental impacts across generations for a relatively
low economic benefit.

ACF said exports of uranium from Australia totalled only $700 million
last year and that was for about a third of the global market……

The uranium industry has also called for an end to regulations that
had no basis in science, such as the condition placed on the Ranger
uranium mine in the Northern Territory that demands mine waste, or
tailings, be isolated from the environment for 10,000 years.

Australian Uranium Association chief executive Michael Angwin said it
had been a concern for the industry that governments would see the
10,000-year rule as best practice. Mr Angwin said.

“I don’t believe it will be entrenched in legislation in Queensland
because there is no scientific basis for it.”

He said there was no standard length of time for the isolation of the
waste. “It depends on the characteristics of the site. It depends on
the geology and whether it is in an area of high rainfall or no
rainfall, it depends upon of the influence of local watercourses and
it depends on the mining method,” he said.
ACF’s submission likens uranium mining to asbestos and tobacco, which
can create illnesses decades after exposure.

ACF spokesman David Sweeney said the mining industry would be pushing
to have the 10,000-year rule scrapped and to have the industry removed
from federal government oversight. He said the 10,000-year rule was a
“big ask” in engineering terms but it showed the severity of the issue
and the long-term threat.

The implementation panel, headed by Central Highlands councillor Paul
Bell, is due to hand its report to the State Government in late March.

Cr Bell said about 25 submissions had so far been received. He said
the panel had been to Darwin, Perth and Adelaide to discuss issues
with governments and industry.
http://www.news.com.au/national/lnp-on-fission-trip-with-uranium-industry-dream/story-fndo4ckr-1226547828476

January 5, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Queensland, spinbuster