In February 2011, the City of Virginia Beach released the
findings of Phase I of a study conducted in response to Virginia
Uranium Inc.’s plan to develop a uranium mining operation in
Pittsylvania County. This area in southwest Virginia is believed
to contain a very large untapped deposit of uranium, but the
area is also susceptible to heavy rains and flooding. This
raises the possibility of radiation flowing into downstream
drinking water supplies, including Lake Gaston, which supplies
drinking water to Virginia Beach and, indirectly, Chesapeake and
Norfolk, if a catastrophic storm were to breach a tailings
disposal cell. Phase II of the study, released in February 2012,
expanded on the initial study by incorporating recently
published information on the current mining proposal at Coles
Hill and extending the study domain through Lake Gaston. Phase
II utilized a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to better
understand the impacts on the tributaries of Kerr Reservoir and
Lake Gaston, including Pea Hill Creek w