The National Research Council has joined the anti-nuclear crowd.
In a new report about the possibility of uranium mining in Virgina, the NRC throws up false hurdles. From the NRC media release:
“Internationally accepted best practices, which include timely and meaningful public participation, are available to mitigate some of the risks involved,” said Paul Locke, chair of the committee that wrote the report and associate professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore. “However, there are still many unknowns.”
The New York Times reported:
The report noted that Virginia’s high water table and heavy rainfall differed from other parts of the United States — typically dry, Western states — where uranium mining has taken place.
“We don’t have a lot of experience in these wet environments in the United States,” Paul A. Locke, the panel chairman and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, said in a conference call with reporters.
Dr. Locke said the panel’s work indicated that uranium mining practices around the world suggested that some risks could be mitigated, but not all.
“There are unknowns because this has not been done a lot in the U.S.,” he said.
We wonder how Locke risks leaving his bed in morning.
Going on a picnic would not be the same without the plastic silverware that is made from this material. Next time you pick up that new CD check out the case it comes in. It is also formed from polystyrene. Laboratories use petri dishes and other supplies formed from this multi-purpose polymer. Industries rely heavily on the polymer and resin forms to fill molds and mass produce their goods.