27 February 2007
There is plenty of controversy associated with the environmental impact of uranium mining and equally so, plenty of spin by governments and conservationists over the so-called real cost of uranium mining.
This is not lost on Monash University researcher Dr Gavin Mudd who, for years, has raised questions about the impact of uranium mining on our environment and in his latest research challenges the economic and environmental sustainability of the process.
In his latest paper - researched with the assistance of Mark Diesendorf, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Environmental Studies, University of New South Wales - Dr Mudd has rounded up enough evidence and documentation to destroy any perception that uranium mining is somehow an infinite quality resource that provides a solution to the world's demand for energy.
"Just how sustainable uranium mining is in terms of the costs of water consumption, energy use and carbon emissions have never really been tackled before. We set out to question the costs involved in uranium mining and how efficient the process really is," Dr Mudd said.
Dr Gavin Mudd is a Lecturer and Researcher at Monash University's Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and said, "From an environmental sustainability perspective, it is critical to evaluate accurately the true life cycle costs of all forms of electricity production, especially with respect to greenhouse emissions. For nuclear power, a significant proportion of greenhouse emissions are derived from the fuel supply, including uranium mining, milling, enrichment, and fuel manufacture."
Using existing data, Dr Mudd found that financial and environmental costs escalate dramatically as the uranium ore is used and the deeper the mining process required to extract the ore, the higher the cost for the mining companies, the greater the impact on the environment and the more resources are needed to obtain the product.
Dr Mudd said information on the uranium industry touted by politicians and mining companies is not necessarily inaccurate, but it doesn't tell the whole story and often it's just an average snapshot of the costs of uranium mining today, and does not reflect the escalating costs associated with the process in years to come.
"It is clear that there is a strong sensitivity of energy and water consumption and greenhouse emissions to ore grade, and that ore grades are likely to continue to decline gradually in the medium to long term. These issues are critical to understand in the current debate over nuclear power and greenhouse emissions, especially with respect to ascribing sustainability to such activities as uranium mining and milling," Dr Mudd said.
"For example, mining at Roxby Downs is responsible for the emission of over one million tonnes of greenhouse gases per year and this could increase to four million tonnes if the mine is expanded," he said
Dr Mudd presented his findings to the 2nd International Conference on Sustainability Engineering and Science held in New Zealand last week.
For more details contact Ms Samantha Blair, Media and Communications on +61 3 9905 9315 or 0439 013 951.
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