The Greens Union of Armenia
Dr. Hagop Sanasarian, president
Mamikoniants St. 47-13,
Yerevan, Armenia
E-mail: armgreen@ipia.sci.am
Telephone: (374-10) 257-634
US contact: Dr. Anne Shirinian, 732-462-9089

Green Regarding Uranium Mining at Nor Getik

By The Greens Union of Armenia
May, 2006

The Greens Union of Armenia is deeply concerned regarding Global Gold
Corporation’s plan to mine uranium, copper and other metals at Nor
Getik, 18 km away from Lake Sevan (within the watershed of the lake),
and to transport the raw material to the City of Hrazdan for the
extraction of the uranium and other metals. Among the consequences of
the proposed plan will be that Yerevan city will be squeezed between
two threats of possible environmental catastrophes – from the west
there is the Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) together with its storage of
radioactive waste and from the north-east, there will be Hrazdan city
with its storage of the uranium processing waste (although classified
as `low level radioactive’ waste, nevertheless it represents a grave
environmental health hazard). The processing of uranium, in
particular, will produce radioactive dust and wastewater. The latter
will be dumped into the River Hrazdan, which provides large amounts of
irrigation water. Thus, through dust and water, the fields and
inhabited lands along the River Hrazdan will become contaminated with
radioactive elements. In addition, during disasters, which occur
frequently in this region, such as earthquakes, landslides, flooding,
possible bombardment during wartime, the waste materials stored in
both Hrazdan and at NPP present a significant threat to the survival
of the people of Armenia, and also may become targets of terrorist
attacks.

The mining of uranium will begin its destruction at Nor Getik by
contaminating the waters and the beautiful valley of the River Getik –
a paradise, where many refugees from Azerbaijan have found shelter.
The River Getik flows into the River Aghestev, which means that all
the contaminants will also flow into the River Aghestev, which passes
through the center of the town of Ijevan. Villages in the valley of
the River Getik would need to be abandoned if radioactive dust
contaminates the air or irrigation water becomes radioactive.

Then follows the contamination of the River Hrazdan and the
destruction of the town of Hrazdan, known as a resort town – many
sanatoriums and health spas, children’s and students’ homes are
located there. The Soviets paid special attention to this area
allocating funding to limit industrial pollution in Hrazdan. Note
that the River Hrazdan flows out of Lake Sevan, then passes through
many towns, such as Hrazdan, Charentsavan, Abovian, Yerevan, Masis,
Ararat, and through many villages, and finally flows into the River
Arax. The water of Hrazdan River feeds the irrigation networks of
Ararat valley and of all the lands along the river. Thus,
contamination of the water of Hrazdan river is unacceptable.

Before the raw material reaches Hrazdan city via rail transport, it
will be stored in a storage area, right on the shore of Lake Sevan,
because the rail line is built along the shoreline, just as the main
road. This means that even if the raw material is transported via
trucks, and not stored on the shore, the trucks still have to drive on
a road, which runs along the shore. This represents a direct threat
of contamination for the water of Lake Sevan in case of a rail or a
truck accident.

Finally, the Government of Armenia must not only adopt public
transparency and accounting regarding the activities of various mining
companies in Armenia, but also a way, a mechanism, by which the
Armenian public can participate in the decision-making process
regarding the ownership and the exploitation of Armenia’s natural
resources. At the moment, our government seems to be buckling under
great external pressures, however, if the public at large is allowed
to be informed and to participate in important decisions (for example,
regarding the issue of ownership of strategic objects, such as
Armenia’s hydropower stations), then the general will of the public
will resist these external pressures and save our nation’s treasures
(i.e., water and land) from usurpation and excessive exploitation.
Also, without any doubt, if given a choice, the public will chose
development of alternative sources of energy, such as wind, hydropower
and solar (all of which are abundant in Armenia), instead of promoting
the interests of the nuclear industry by proposing a new expensive
nuclear power plant for a small earthquake-prone impoverished country.

Information on contamination caused by uranium mining and extraction:

Waste rock is produced during open pit mining when overburden is
removed, and during underground mining when driving tunnels through
non-ore zones. Piles of so-called waste rock often contain elevated
concentrations of radioisotopes compared to normal rock. Other waste
piles consist of ore with too low a grade for processing. All these
piles threaten people and the environment due to their release of
radon gas and seepage water containing radioactive and toxic
materials. In addition, to keep water out of the mine during
operation, large amounts of contaminated water are pumped out and
released to rivers and lakes. When the pumps are shut down after
closure of the mine, there is a risk of groundwater contamination from
the rising water level.

Ore mined in open pit or underground mines is crushed and leached in a
uranium mill. A uranium mill is a chemical plant designed to extract
uranium from ore. In most cases, sulfuric acid is used as the
leaching agent, but alkaline leaching is also used. The leaching agent
not only extracts uranium from the ore, but also several other
constituents like molybdenum, vanadium, selenium, iron, lead and
arsenic, thus, the uranium must be separated out of the leaching
solution. The final product from the mill, commonly referred to as
“yellow cake” (U3O8 with impurities), is packed and shipped in casks.
In the end, large amounts of radioactively contaminated scrap are
produced, which have to be disposed in a safe manner. Uranium mill
tailings are normally disposed of (dumped) as a sludge in special
ponds or piles, where they are abandoned. The amount of sludge
produced is nearly the same as that of the ore milled. At a grade of
0.1% uranium, 99.9% of the material is left over as scrap/tailing.

Apart from the portion of the uranium removed, the sludge contains all
the constituents of the ore. Because long lived decay products such as
thorium-230 and radium-226 are not removed, the sludge contains 85% of
the initial radioactivity of the ore. Due to technical limitations,
all of the uranium present in the ore cannot be extracted. Therefore,
the sludge also contains 5% to 10% of the uranium initially present in
the ore.

In addition, the sludge contains heavy metals and other contaminants
such as arsenic, as well as chemical reagents used during the milling
process. Moreover, the constituents inside the tailings pile are in a
geochemical disequilibrium that results in various reactions causing
additional hazards to the environment. For example, in dry areas,
salts containing contaminants can migrate to the surface of the pile,
where they are subject to erosion. If the ore contains the mineral
pyrite (FeS2), then sulfuric acid forms inside the deposit when
accessed by precipitation and oxygen. This acid causes a continuous
automatic leaching of contaminants. After hundreds of thousands of
years, the radioactivity of the tailings and thus its radon emanation
will have decreased so that it is only limited by the residual uranium
contents. (end)

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress