industries

B.C. Miners’ Nuclear Winter

Suddenly, everyone is frightened about anything atomic. This means a continuation of nuclear winter for B.C.’s mining community.  It’s pretty hard to ignore the panic over nuclear right now, even though we don’t allow it in B.C.

By Tony Wanless /

B.C. does not allow uranium exploration or mining.

Suddenly, everyone is frightened about anything atomic. This means a continuation of nuclear winter for B.C.’s mining community. 

It’s pretty hard to ignore the panic over nuclear right now, even though we don’t allow it in B.C.
The troubles at nuclear plants in Japan resulting from the earthquake and subsequent tsunami have people around the world panicking over fallout and nuclear in general. Germany has closed down several nuclear generating plants; plans for others around the world are being shelved, and people are crying out to stop with nuclear because it’s dangerous.

There are even people buying up iodine pills because they fear some kind of nuclear cloud is going to travel thousands of miles over the Pacific to our shores. (Tip: You want iodine? Eat lots of fried chicken – it’s loaded with salt, which is treated with iodine to prevent goiters. Of course, you’ll have another problem – you’ll be really fat.)

 
All in all, it looks like an extension of nuclear winter for B.C.’s uranium miners.  
 
These guys have been taking it on the chin for decades because of the world’s unnatural fear and confusion over nuclear power. So much ink has been spilled about nuclear war that anything with the tag “radioactive” – including naturally radioactive material contained in rocks – creates panic.
 
B.C. doesn’t allow nuclear power production (although it does sanction some nuclear research reactors). It doesn’t even allow uranium exploration or mining. 
 
But other provinces and countries do, and so miners here are well known in such uranium hotspots as Saskatchewan, Nunavit, and Latin America. 
 
For a few blessed years in the past decade, uranium was popular again. Most people recognized that creating power by burning coal was harmful to the environment, and nuclear power was among the cleanest – albeit very expensive – sources of large-scale power in existence. The price of uranium shot up as the world began drawing up plans for nuclear power plants. 
 
The recession halted that and lowered the price of uranium considerably, driving out some of the uranium explorers. 
 
There was some indication of spring because there are still 62 commercial nuclear plants under construction in the world which will add to the 440 commercial nuclear power reactors that already exist.
 
All are going to need uranium so exploration and production carried on. 
 
At least until now. Who knows what misinformed panic will do to those construction plans? 
 
And who can track what that will do to an already hurting aspect of the B.C. mining industry?