An effort underway in western Colorado to build the first conventional uranium mill since the Cold War seems to be a welcome step toward energy independence, and we hope it gains a state permit by the beginning of next year.
Obviously, if experts at the Colorado Department of Health and Environment find that plans filed for the mill by Energy Fuels aren't up to federal standards, it shouldn't be built. But if Energy Fuels can meet the exceedingly high bar set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), we welcome the multiple benefits the mill would bring to that part of the state and the nation.
If uranium milling were to return to the region that once supplied material to the Manhattan Project, the national Cold War arsenal, and later the country's first steps in nuclear power, it could be an economic boon. And because we support an expansion of nuclear power generation, which produces abundant electricity without greenhouse gases, a resurgent domestic market would also be a welcome benefit.
Residents of the tiny towns of Nucla and Naturita near the site of the proposed Piñon Ridge Mill overwhelmingly support a return of uranium milling and mining. Montrose County officials do as well.
Energy Fuels estimates that the mill would employ 85 people with jobs paying between $45,000 and $70,000. Hundreds of additional jobs would return to nearby mines. The Montrose Economic Development Corp. estimates that the total economic impact to the region — in direct and indirect employment — would be nearly $50 million a year.
Yes, in the go-go days of uranium mining during the Cold War, it took the Atomic Energy Commission that regulated mining and milling until the late 1960s to realize the dangers of radioactive gases and wastes. Mines weren't ventilated and mill tailings were recklessly scattered — even used in garden soil. Many mine workers contracted lung cancer as a result.
But the federal government launched massive cleanup efforts and retooled regulations under the NRC. The regulations today mean that a worker in a uranium mill must be shielded from even infinitesimal amounts of radiation. In fact, an airline crew member soaks up one and a half times more radiation at work than workers in the nuclear-power industry, according to a recent New Yorker article by Peter Hessler, reporting on the Piñon Ridge proposal.
The NRC's rules for containing waste and preventing their leakage into groundwater are also extensive, and Colorado's laws also have been updated to require that mills are accountable to taxpayers. Meanwhile, domestic nuclear power plants import the great majority of the nuclear fuel they use.
With demand for nuclear power plants rising at home and abroad, a new mill in Colorado could play a helpful role in the state's economy, and as long as it comports itself as a good corporate citizen, the proposed Piñon Ridge Mill should join the mix.