Anne: Helen Caldicott, I'm pleased to have the opportunity to interview you on my blog. You are a physician and for more than forty years you have been dedicated to warning against the impact of nuclear power and nuclear weapons.
- What is your opinion of the uranium mining project at Kvanefjeld?
Helen Caldicott: I think it will be very dangerous for the people living around and near the mine and also for the sheep. It will be an open cut mine and the uranium in the mine and in the tailings waste will continually for the rest of time emit dangerous radon gas which is very carcinogenic and causes lung cancer, as well as Radium leaching into the water supply and radium causes bone cancer and leukemia and this pollution will continue unabated for the rest of time. The lake will also become extremely polluted.
Anne: The Mining Company is trying on their website to reassure people next to the mine that the environment can be protected. Will it be possible to avoid hazards during mining so that people can go on living in Narssaq or being sheep farmers in the region and still sell their product?
Helen Caldicott: There is absolutely no way to protect the people or the animals from radioactive pollution, the mining company is lying.
Anne: Do you think it will be possible to safeguard the environment once the mine operations are closed as the Company pretends on their website?
Helen Caldicott: No uranium mines in the world have ever been cleaned up and people living near them, often indigenous people have a high incidence of cancers and also congenital deformities in their babies. The waste will remain radioactive for the rest of time. And will pollute the water supply, the food and the air.
Anne: What is your opinion on the lake Taseq as a tailings deposit?
Helen Caldicott: The lake will become radioactive and the elements will concentrate in the fish making them very dangerous to eat.
Anne: Which advice could you give the Greenlandic government who is in need of money and therefore sees the uranium mining project as a way to get employment and investment to Greenland?
Helen Caldicott: You don’t encourage an industry that will cause cancer and diseases in the surrounding community for the rest of time to boost the economy. This is medically extremely dangerous and must NOT happen.
Anne: Thank you for the interview!
Links
De rydder aldrig op efter en uranmine Information 25.3.2014
Conference: the Impacts of Uranium Mining in Greenland 25th March 2014
Kontroversiel grønlandsk uranmine får kinesisk rygstød Græsrødder forsøger at overbevise politikere fra København og Nuuk om, at Grønland ikke skal sælge sit uran. Politiken 25.3.2014
Kontroversiel grønlandsk uranmine får kinesisk rygstød Græsrødder forsøger at overbevise politikere fra København og Nuuk om, at Grønland ikke skal sælge sit uran. Politiken 25.3.2014
I have found this site, http://nuclearsafety.gc.ca/eng/waste/uranium-mines-and-millswaste/index.cfm .
SvarSletIt seems the Canadian authorities have efficient procedures for clean up after Uranium mining in northern areas
SvarSletThank you for the link.
From the first glance the waste rock part seems fine.
But the tailings disposal in Canada still is a mess.
The disposal in lakes is anything from safe and secure.
As you see from the small picture, a seepage water recovery from
underneath the tailings has been planned. This is not good.
For how long will they have to pump the seepage (ten years, 100 years,
1,000 years, 10,000 years? They can pump the whole water from the
lake and route that several times through their treatment plant.
What does it gain? A completely instable disposal system
(it delivers a maximum of water to dissolve toxics from it instead of
isolating the waste).
This is far away from sustainable,
it is rather old school ("we did it always like this,
so let us do it again and again and again") and legacy construction.
Kind regards,
Anne