National Breaking News
Uncertainty dogs uranium mining debate
The granting of permission for a mining company to explore for uranium close to Alice Springs has sparked furious debate in Central Australia.
Further reading and web links on the uranium debate
It is impossible to address all the issues pertinent to a public debate of uranium mining in four pages.
Is it used in weapons?
Opponents of uranium mining in Australia argue that waste products from our uranium may be used to make nuclear bombs.
And the economy?
Debates about the economics of uranium mining encompass both local and global issues.
How about native title?
Mining or mineral exploration in the Territory normally involves negotiations between mining companies and traditional owners and native title holders.
Mine planners can't tell future
Dr Gavin M Mudd has been an active researcher and advocate on the environmental impacts and management of mining for over a decade. He has a particular specialty in brown coal wastes, uranium mining and environmental management and is currently a lecturer in Environmental Engineering at Monash University.
Remediation
There are many examples of ways to remediate pollution caused by uranium mining, but less evidence of their long-term success.
What about solar power
Nuclear critics rarely dispute arguments against the use of coal, but argue solar power and other renewable power sources such as geothermal energy as better alternatives.
Is nuclear really green?
An argument that has gained currency owing to its widespread use by the pro-uranium lobby is that nuclear power is emissions free, and climate change friendly.
How do they find uranium?
Mining companies drill small bore holes in the ground to find out what is under it. In this way Cameco Paladin intends to work out just how much uranium there is at Angela Pamela and how best to get it out.
What about the environment?
Extracting uranium to produce electricity sparks a range of environmental impacts.
How much uranium is there?
Australia has about one third of the world's known uranium resources and produces about 22 per cent of the world's mined uranium. That is about 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide per year.
How safe is nuclear energy?
Two major accidents involving nuclear power plants have occurred: one at Three Mile island, Pennsylvania USA in 1979 and the other at Chernobyl, USSR in 1988, although many other faults have occurred.
Can we safeguard our drinking water?
Graham Ride is a groundwater engineer who has worked with government departments and helped to map the Mereenie Basin, which supplies Alice Springs with its water supply. He is a long-term resident of Central Australia with children and grandchildren who have lived in Alice Springs all their lives. Until recently he was land and water regional manager of the NT Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport.
How does uranium make power?
Naturally occurring uranium oxide is concentrated to form Yellowcake, a bright yellow compound. This fine powder is packaged in drums and sent to a conversion plant that produces the gas uranium hexafluoride.
What is uranium?
Uranium is a heavy, silvery-white metal found in trace quantities around the world, but in only a few places in concentrated deposits or ores.
A brief history of the Angela-Pamela uranium deposit
The Angela Pamela deposits were discovered and explored in the 1970s, but lay fallow during decades of political opposition to uranium mining and low world uranium prices.
