Uranium mining concerns Dan River Region farmers

Local farmers worry a nearby uranium site might hurt the marketability of their products. More than three dozen farmers, frequently from the Dan River Region, asked the National Academy of Sciences to include impacts to agriculture in its statement on uranium mining in Virginia due in December.

The farmers, along with five water and environmental groups, submit joint explanation to the study panel, asking that its statement include risks of possible contamination to the food chain from uranium mining and milling in Virginia. Farmers fear customers’ awareness of risks to food products could hurt demand and their bottom lines. Agriculture is Virginia’s major industry with an economic impact of $55 billion annually.

Reputation is the whole thing for Our Father’s Farm in Gretna, said owner Jacques “Jack” Fuhrmann. The farm’s selling point is contribution all-natural beef, poultry, eggs and seasonal produce without using chemicals. Most clients are in Lynchburg, Roanoke and Smith Mountain Lake. Sales are direct, so clients know where the food is coming from.

Inaction may set atom fuel bank funds at risk: U.S.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is mulling several plans under which states would be offer with low-enriched uranium (LEU) for their civilian nuclear programs if their supply is cut and they can show a perfect non-proliferation record. U.S. President Barack Obama has backed the decades old idea but some developing states have voiced misgivings that it may border their right to set up sovereign atomic energy programs. An IAEA plan support by former Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei proposes buying 60-80 tons of LEU using $150 million in member donations and offering it to states at market prices.

The U.S has contributed $50 million to the plan. "Taken together with pledges from the Nuclear Threat Initiative and other member states, $150 million has been promise for this purpose," U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the IAEA annual general conference. "This offer has been extended some times and presents member states with an excellent opportunity to realize one of the founding objectives of the IAEA. These resources will be at risk if we do not achieve a decision soon."

Chu said countries should push for a resolution approving an execution plan at the next IAEA governing board meeting in December. "It is now time to move beyond general discussion and discuss of fuel bank principles," he said at the Vienna meeting. The fuel bank is seen by the U.N. nuclear agency as a way to meet demand from some 60 nations, several in the conflict-ridden Middle East, for technical help in launching atomic energy without spreading the risk of proliferation. Iran's disputed enrichment program, which the West fears is aimed at increasing atom bombs, has also helped the idea up the agenda as well after decades on the political back-burner.