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In the search for more information, the Uranium mining industry has been a source of excellent reports and science. Unlike the stone industry, the Uranium industry is very forthcoming on locations of mines, environmental aspects, and health aspects of low level radiation. The knowledge given in their reports also helps us understand how to correlate parts per million (ppm) with uR/hr levels.

This report on a Canadian Uranium mine site

shows some interesting figures on the ppm content of Uranium ore. It looks like between 3 and 4 ppm of Uranium in granite is about the same as background radiation, and once a granite is found with 25 times background level, that indicates a economically viable Uranium mining site. So between 75 and 100 ppm can be mined profitably. If background radiation is 3 or 4, that puts the granite at that site between 75 and 100 uR/hr.

Plenty of granites have already been found above 75 uR/hr Gamma, assuming that that is all they are measuring. If they are using Alpha and Beta as well, that probably doubles or triples the granites that would have enough Uranium content to economically mine.

Another measurement they used was Counts Per Minute, CPM. From 500 to 4,000 cpm were found through out the prospective mining site. Up to 65,000 hot spots were also recorded, but apparently 500 to 4,000 cpm is high enough to warrant Uranium mining.

Again, many granites have this much radiation. Lots of common granite such as Uba Tuba will average 360 cpm, making them too low for economical mining, but they have close to the same health risks of raw Uranium ore. And they could be sitting in your house in large masses.

Many times, a study on suspected carcinogens is made difficult by other factors that may lead to cancer.

This ten year long study on Uranium miners in Namibia, got around the problem because of its remote location, far from poor quality air or industrial plants that might pollute the local area. The study found higher rates of cancer among miners than the general population.

The idea was to see if low level radiation from Uranium mining caused radiation damage leading to cancer. Seventy five non smoking, HIV negative miners were studied by blood work and urine analysis for Uranium elimination. The results were compared to a cohort of 31 men with no Uranium mining experience. The average exposure was 1.8 mSv/yr, the highest was 5 mSv/yr, well within the ICRP dose limit recommendations.

The Uranium miners excreted six times the Uranium than the non miners, and had a significantly lower Testosterone along with more chromosome aberrations. The most remarkable finding was cells with multiple chromosome aberrations, so called “rogue” cells were found in the miners. These rogue cells were previously found only after high radiation exposure in Hiroshima or Chernobyl survivors.

The study concluded that low level radiation was responsible for genetic damage and malignant transformation, as well as lower hormone levels and damage to other body systems.

Coupled with the known measurements of granite countertop materials, this study would point to the same health issues that granite fabricators and homeowners with high radiation granite countertops would face.

In the coming days, we will show more Uranium mine info, and the granite slab quarries that are very near some of the larger mines.