AP Exclusive: Czechs see future in uranium

The AP has well-read that other nations are also plan similar ventures: EU countries such as Sweden are exploring their uranium deposits at the same time as others, as well as Hungary, have sought the Czechs' advice. Fact-finding mission from as far afield as Argentina, Brazil, China and Vietnam are normal visitors, with dozens of expert sent to the School of Uranium manufacture at the Czech state-run uranium monopoly Diamo.Some are revolted at the project, mindful of the Communist era in then-Czechoslovakia when about 40,000 undefended political prisoners were compulsory to work in the uranium mines. At least 500 died — a few trying to escape, others driven to suicide by cruel conditions. Many others unknowingly constricted cancer from radiation exposure.

Czechoslovakia became the sixth major producer of uranium in the world as it fed the Soviet nuclear program through the Cold War. Starving and badly prepared political prisoners were sent into the mines by the ruling Communists."Given the knowledge we have with uranium mining, it's not a good idea," said Bed rich Mold an, manager of Prague's Charles University Environment Center. "It poses serious risks."Jan Rove sky of Greenpeace called the arrangement "absurd, of no use and damaging for the environment."But much expert point to original technologies and severe rules on mining and say there's no cause for alarm.

Robert Vance of the Paris-based Nuclear Energy group of the Organization for financial Co-operation and Development said he can recognize why people "have a bad emotion about it," but added: "Today, it can be mined carefully and be managed safely," citing work in Canada and Australia. The uranium traditionally has been extract here by methods that involve pumping sulfuric acid into uranium ore to break up the radioactive materials. In former mines close to the northern town of Straz pod Ralskem, almost 5 million metric tons of acid were pumped in a straight line into the ground over decades, causing large-scale environmental injure and contaminating some 370 million cubic meters of underground drinking water. Officials at Diamo say the cleaning it started in 1996 will not be finished earlier than 2037 at an expected cost of 50 billion koruna ($3 billion).