Keep Ban On Uranium Mining

A recent editorial advocated uranium mining in southwest Virginia — a much needed answer to their unemployment problem (“Yes On Uranium,” Jan. 11). I am writing to dispute that initiative. The toxic waste left behind would contaminate not only that soil but also wherever the wind blows the tailings left on the surface for thousands of miles, leaving radon contamination in animals, fish and plants thousand of miles away.

The half-life of this radioactivity is 80,000 years. All uranium ends up as either nuclear weapons or highly radioactive waste from nuclear reactors. In 1979, a breach of a dam in New Mexico released more radioactivity than Three Mile Island left behind.

We’re working on wind, solar, geothermal and water power to produce electricity. We need to keep the ban on uranium mining.