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Uranium, a metallic element, which can be found in air, seawater or rock, even in humans body, is extremely toxic, radioactive and harmful to human health. The value of uranium was recognized and reconsidered after abundant energy and enormous power of nuclear weapons were released and shown to the world during the Second World War in 1945, and then uranium was widely used especially in the medical field and in generating electricity or weapons. Due to its uniqueness in producing nuclear power, numerous investors have engaged enthusiastically in the industry of mining and exporting uranium. In order to meet the increasing demand for uranium, the worldwide production has been increasing which amounted to 50,572 tons in 2009 (Uranium production figures, 2011). Some proponents claim that uranium mining and export contribute directly in releasing the deficiency of natural resources and promoting economic profit as well as medical development. However, the opponents maintain that this is an industry making profits by sacrificing environment contamination and human health, even the security of human being. Although uranium mining and export industry creates some positive issues for society, it should be banned or limited as there is no way to ensure the safety for the environment or human beings during mining or using uranium, and the negative social impacts far outweigh the benefits it generates.

Firstly, uranium mining seriously endangers the health of miners and local residents. According to the Schultz, uranium extraction was definitively linked to cancer, kidney disease and other ailments due to mining towns exposed to 1

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dangerous levels of radon and contaminated water (2003). It has been proved that people who work for or live near uranium mines have much higher occasions to get lung cancer than the average level (Cohen, 1990). The experts stated that radiation in uranium even harm to human DNA which can damage the health of future generations (Jackson & Bartek, 2009). Even though there are some radioactive substances which are harmful to human health, supporters of uranium mining have claimed that it has been minimized effectively by using the most advanced technology and measures. Uranium, one of the most precious resources, plays a very important role in modern society because of its wide usages in generating electricity and medicine. Nuclear energy has high importance in complementing the worldwide energy scarcity as a greenhouse friendly fuel for an energy hungry world (Australias uranium, 2006). Presently, 438 commercial nuclear power plants or nuclear research reactors are operating in around 60 nations and 15 percent of global electricity is provided by nuclear energy (Rogner & McDonald, 2010). Besides, uranium also has a considerable value in the medical field on account of certain medical conditions which can be diagnosed and treated by using radioisotopes, such as radiotherapy for the treatment of cancerous tumors (Radioisotopes in Medicine, 2011).

Despite uranium exert a positive contribution to medicine at present, medical communities are actively seeking alternatives owing to its radioactive hazards to

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human health. Although uranium mining proponents emphasized that nuclear energy is a clean energy, the opponents pointed out that uranium mining itself could become a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. What's more, the immense damage from nuclear accidents caused worldwide concerns about stability and security of nuclear energy. For example, 160,000 square kilometers of land was contaminated and at least 400,000 people dead due to the Chernobyl incident in 1986 (Annan, 2000). Based on the tremendous loss of a nuclear accident, an increasing number of countries attempted to adjust the plan of energy utilization and development. For example, Germany announced that all of its nuclear power plants will be shut by 2022. It is wised that nuclear energy should be replaced by some real environment friendly and renewable energy, such as solar and wind.

Secondly, widespread radiation contamination and water pollution are the biggest concerns for environmentalists, as there is no clean way to mine uranium and utilize nuclear energy. Uranium mining inevitably exerts a severe negative impact on important biological groups of the soil web due to radon emissions and the consumption of vast amounts of water or sulfuric acid (Klauk, 2011). According to the report of Nuclear Free Queensland, 42 million liters of water was used up per day by one Australian mine (2011), the contaminated water is left with radioactive elements and cannot be reused (Queensland Conservation, 2006). Rain leads to more uranium in water and the toxins make their way into every part of the food chain which is terminated by humans and animals 3

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consumption. Furthermore, all nuclear industry activities, from nuclear medicine to nuclear power and weapons, generate nuclear waste. The biggest problem with nuclear waste is requiring decades or thousands of years to break down and reduce its radioactivity. No human institution can promise to keep this poisonous legacy safe and isolated from people or the environment for thousands of years due to these unpredictable problems. As a result, the burden of cleanup is left to taxpayers.

Proponents to uranium mining maintain that mining operations which follow strict federal and state rules have minimized the damage to the environment and the uranium mining industry plays a significant role in promoting economic profit for governments. Australia has 31% of uranium in the world, which comprises the largest proportion of the deposit of uranium, according to December 2008 data, uranium mines yield about AUS $21 million in royalties per year (World Nuclear Association, 2011). Due to the rising price of fossil fuels and improved nuclear reactor designs, the demand for uranium increase providing a timely opportunity for Australia as well as the other uranium-rich nations. It cannot be ignored that uranium export brings certain short-term economic benefits for the minority of uranium-rich. In fact, uranium mining is neither effective nor efficient for governments. On one hand, one of the most important standards of estimating the economic contribution for industries is whether proper employment opportunities are provided. Obviously, the performance of

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uranium mining is incompetent. Uranium mining and export are not as helpful as the manufacturing industry in providing employment, with the labor cost accounting for only 4% of the income (Greenpeace, 1993). On the other hand, it is confirmed that there are no long-term effective measure to avoid or deal with pollution; governments have to spend more money and time on recovering the environment. For example, Diamo, the national uranium company of Czech Republic, has been working for several years on cleaning up the toxic waste, which began in 1996 and was expected to last 30 more years with a total cost of around $2.75 billion (Kanter, 2010). It can clearly be seen that the long-term environmental effects far outweigh the short-term economic gain from uranium mining industry. The last widespread controversial point that has been much debated is the uranium mining and exporting contributes potentially to the research and development of nuclear weapons. In recent decades, an increasing number of countries have possessed nuclear weapons, such as India, Pakistan and North Korea; and there are also a number of countries actively developing nuclear weapons, such as Iran. This causes not only worldwide attention, but also apprehensions for potential change of current framework in international peace or increase of risks in nuclear war (Human security report, 2010).

However, rejecters claimed that they followed a very strict policy to filter the export countries. In Australia and Canada, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of

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Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was enacted to ensure the safe use of nuclear power; all trade is prefaced with the understanding that nuclear products will only be used for energy purposes (Uranium policy, 2005). India is an example of being exclusion in the list of Australian exporting uranium countries due to it not being a member of the NPT. Supporters of uranium mining and exports believe that these measures or policies can effectively prevent the utilization of uranium on the development or manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Although the filtering policies could distinguish the purpose between civil and military and avoid abuse of uranium sometimes, people who are against nuclear weapons point out that real use purpose of these resources cannot be controlled effectively unless much tougher barriers can be implemented (Uranium mining and exports, 2010). Iran is a negative example among members of NPT, which is still energetically working on the research of nuclear weapons. Moreover, rejecters insist that uranium mining and export is the first step to nuclear war (Caldicott, 2009). For countries that can legally possess nuclear weapons, uranium is enough to produce more nuclear weapons and directly improve force which further threatens the security of neighboring or other countries, even the world peace. In addition, nuclear power plants or reactors may be a highly attractive target for terrorist attack, which will be a crushing calamity to human beings. It can be concluded that, uranium mining and export, to some extent, play an

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important role in boosting economic prosperity, solving energy scarcity and developing medicine; however, it cannot be ignored that this industry exerts an extremely negative impact on destroying surroundings or hazarding human health, even breaking world peace. It is obvious that the disadvantages of the uranium mining and export industry far outweigh its advantages. The uranium

mining and export industry should be banned or limited because its extremely negative impacts on modern society beyond the level that people can afford. As well as the need for government bans, further action should be taken to find other sources to replace uranium, which are real safe and friendly to both the environment and human beings.

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Reference
Annan, K 2000, The Chernobyl Legacy, Nuclear Monitor, vol. 9 June 2006, no.645-646, viewed 15 June 2011, <http://www.nirs.org/mononline/nm645-46.pdf >. Australias uranium- Greenhouse Friendly Fuel for an Energy Hungry World, 2006, The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, viewed 11 June 2011, <http://www.aph.gov.au/house/committee/isr/uranium/report/fullreport.pdf>. Caldicott, H 2009, Uranium Export is the First Step to War, America 18 July, viewed 17 June 2011, <http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/uranium-export-is-the-first-step-to-war-2 0090717-do5z.html>. Cohen, B, 1990, The Nuclear Energy Option, Plenum Press, viewed18 July 2011, <http://www.scribd.com/doc/44228626/The-Nuclear-Energy-Option>. Greenpeace, 1993, Uranium mining and the Australian economy, viewed 19 June 2011, < http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/5474>. Human security report 2009/2010, viewed 14 June 2011, <http://www.hsrgroup.org/docs/Publications/HSR20092010/20092010Human SecurityReport-Part2-ShrinkingCostsOfWar.pdf>. Jackson, S & Bartek, J 2009, The DNA-damage Response in Human Biology and Disease, Nature, Vol 461, viewed 13 June 2011, <http://www.cancer.dk/NR/rdonlyres/49CE2089-E7D7-4177-9688-E81D5AFA A0B5/34132/JacksonBartektheDNAdamageresponse10095.pdf>. Kanter, J 2010, Fear Darkens Czech Uranium Mining Town, America 4 November, viewed 15 June 2011, <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/05/business/global/05uranium.html?scp= 4&sq=uranium+mining&st=nyt>. Klauk, E 2011, Impacts on the Navajo Nation from Uranium Mining, Impacts of Resource Development on Native American Lands, Environmental, viewed 15 June 2011, <http://serc.carleton.edu/research_education/nativelands/navajo/environment al.html>. Nuclear Free Queensland 2011, Top 10 reasons to oppose uranium mining, viewed on 15 June 2011, <http://www.nuclearfreequeensland.org/pdf/NFQtopten.pdf>. 8

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Queensland Conservation, 2006, viewed 15 June 2011, <www.nuclearfreequeensland.org>. Rogner, H & McDonald, A 2010, Nuclear Power: Is the Renaissance Real or a Mirage?, viewed 11 June 2011, <http://www.worldenergy.org/documents/congresspapers/334.pdf>. Radioisotopes in Medicine 2011, viewed 16 June 2011, <http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf55.html>. Schultz, N 2003, Assessment of Potential Toxic Influence of Uranium Trial Mining in the Karoo Uranium Province, viewed 11 June 2011, <http://etd.uovs.ac.za/ETD-db//theses/available/etd-05262005-115751/unres tricted/SCHOLTZN.pdf>. Uranium production figures 2011, viewed on 15 June 2011, <http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/uprod.html>. Uranium policy 2005, Queensland Resources Council, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.qrc.org.au/_dbase_upl/Uranium%20policy.pdf>. Uranium mining and exports, 2010, viewed 12 June 2011, <http://www.icanw.org.au/uranium>. World Nuclear Association 2011, Australias Uranium, viewed 13 June 2011, <http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf48.html>.