Protesters Want "21st Century" Safety on Uranium Mines

Protesters took to Colorado's capital over the weekend, trying to convince the state to impost more strict safety guidelines on new uranium mining projects in the state, according to the Rocky Mountain News. It's unclear how specific the protesters' concerns are, of if they have a more generalized concern over uranium mining.

Powertech Inc., a subsidiary of Denver-based Powertech Uranium Corp., received state approvals for its Centennial prospecting project in July.

Uranium mining has been experiencing a boom in recent years, since companies have applied for the first permits to build new nuclear power plants in a generation. Nuclear power is a controversial source in the environmental community, with historic opposition based on the nearly unending radioactivity of its waste and its connection to nuclear weaponry, and more a recent embrace by some because nuclear power produces almost no air pollution (once the mining and transportation and building pollution are out of the way, that is).

As the state with the third-largest reserves of the nuclear fuel, behind Wyoming and New Mexico, what happens in Colorado could have an impact elsewhere in the industry.

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