As we learn more about ionising radiation it is found to be ever so much more dangerous than previously thought. Mining sites become scarred landscapes. After mining ceases, tailings dams become hills of fine sand-like solids. These retain 80 per cent of the radioactivity of the ore body. Radioactive radium, dust and radon contaminate the air, land and waterways.
Neighbourhoods suffer cancer and birth defects.
The radioactive hazards of tailings at old uranium mining sites will persist for over 100,000 years. Hex' is hazardous both as a chemical and for its radioactivity. An accident in transport could be catastrophic. Exposure to 'hex' can cause serious kidney damage. A country with an enrichment plant has the means to produce nuclear weapons within a very short time.