Uranium mining characterises the flawed mindset of a market driven society prioritizing short term privatised profit over socialised long term costs to our health and our environment.
- Outisde the Esplanade Hotel fremantle - July 21st 2010 -
Does that sound far fetched ? Well consider the state of the Uranium industry until then. With a limit if 3 mines nationally and one third of estimated resources out of bounds, there was a constraint over uranium supply globally. Not any more.
The people inside the Esplanade hotel are hell bent on developing a resource that for their own quick profit, leaves a legacy of waste of multi-millennial proportions. Permanently, so far as we are concerned, polluting the landscape and aquifers with radioactive waste.
And it is that special characteristic of uranium that sets it apart from other mining.
Radioactive decay of the Uranium nucleus results in the release of ionising radiation. That is, radiation with high levels of energy. Not necessarily high in quantity but in its energy content.
An analogy would be to temperature, it doesn't matter how much warm water you touch it won't burn you, but for ultraviolet light might represent hot water, and Xrays perhaps, boiling water. Now for gamma rays think high pressure steam.
Ionising means having enough energy to be able to alter the structure of atoms or molecules.
Like gamma rays, Alpha and beta particles released are also ionising, but there is a catch. Because of the nature of these particles, they do not penetrate skin.
Does that mean they are safe to us ?
Well yes, if you leave uranium ore bodies safely in the ground. However, if you dig up the ore and pulverize it or extract and separate it using in situ leaching, you liberate the radioactive material from it's natural and stable home.
Once freed into the environment, uranium and its radioactive progeny ( or elements formed by it's radioactive decay ) can enter the food chain via deposition or the ground water. They can also be directly inhaled.
Ionising radiation in the form of gamma rays, alpha and beta particles have enough energy to damage our DNA, causing mutations in our genes and degrading the cellular regulation and other essential functions.
Simply speaking it causes cancer in our cells. Not controversial. Not in dispute.
But there is another twist to this story, increasing the danger further. As it decays, one of the products of uranium, is Radon. Radon is a short lived gas, with a half life in days. It is very radioactive and when it decays, it becomes a solid once more.
This is not a problem in an ore body as it continues its inevitable journey to become lead. But, exposed to the atmosphere the gas can escape and can be inhaled. Decaying and depositing in the lung tissue, it remains permanently in our lung tissue emitting ionising radiation, damaging DNA in our cells.
Radon is the second largest cause of lung cancer after tobacco smoking.
Anyone working in the industry, whether mining, milling, processing, will be exposed to radon as well as dust containing other radioactive species. That is reflected in the health and occupational statistics overseas. But as was pointed out at the rally, Australia has assiduously avoided a register or mechanism for capturing the occupation health risks.
Neither does it stop with the workers. The communities that live nearby, along transportation routes and the exposed more distantly as a result of deposition and bio-concentration ( like other heavy metals ) in the food chain, means it will come back to haunt us, or rather our grand children.
Now I hope those nice folk in the Esplanade don't choke on their morning tea.
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