Re: yet another fossil fuel mining disaster.....4...chinese mine explosion...
- From: abelard <abelard3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 30 Apr 2006 15:26:39 +0200
On Sun, 30 Apr 2006 14:01:10 +0100, Stephen Glynn <nyeplm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
typed:
abelard wrote:
just another day of business as usual in the fossil fuel industry....
http://www.forbes.com/work/feeds/afx/2006/04/30/afx2708835.html
"At least 27 people died from a coal mine blast in northwest China, Xinhua
news agency reported."
regards...
Do you happen to have any figures for the risks associated with mining
uranium , either from accidents in the pits or from exposure to
radioactive dust, so we can make a fair comparison of the hazards
associated with the coal and uranium mining industries?
there's stuff buried in among my documents on nuclear energy....
perhaps i should put in a specific note...
http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/
esp ch 8
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/info.htm#miningenvironment
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf25.htm
"URANIUM: Uranium itself is radioactive, though with the major isotope
U-238 having a half-life equal to the age of the earth, it is certainly
not strongly radioactive. U-235 has a half life one sixth of this and
emits gamma rays as well as alpha particles. Hence a lump of pure uranium
would give off some gamma rays, but less than those from a lump of
granite. Its alpha radioactivity in practical terms depends on whether it
is as a lump (or in rock as ore), or as a dry powder. In the latter case
the alpha radioactivity is a potential, though not major, hazard. It is
also toxic chemically, being comparable with lead. Uranium metal is
commonly handled with gloves as a sufficient precaution. Uranium
concentrate is handled and contained so as to ensure that people do not
inhale or ingest it.
The gamma radiation detected by exploration geologists looking for uranium
actually comes from associated elements such as radium and bismuth, which
over geological time have resulted from the radioactive decay of uranium."
....
"While uranium itself is only slightly radioactive, radon, a radioactive
inert gas, is released to the atmosphere in very small quantities when the
ore is mined and crushed. Radon is one of the decay products of uranium
and radium, and occurs naturally in most rocks - minute traces of it are
present in the air which we all breathe."
[ie, it occurs also in coal mining]
regards...
--
web site at www.abelard.org - news comment service, logic, economics
energy, education, politics, etc 1,552,396 document calls in year past
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