Rising Interest in Nuclear Power Brings New Life to Uranium Mining

And the mine, whose workforce dropped from 3,800 in the 1970s to 860 last year, has begun hiring again.

"It is definitely a dramatic change," said company spokesman Rehabeam Hoveka. "It is good news for Arandis. It is good news for Namibia, too."

A second uranium mine, meanwhile, is slated to open nearby soon. Three others within 60 miles are in various stages of development. So where Arandis was once going to be a mining town without a mine, soon there could be five in the area.

The boom in uranium mining has caused grumbling from the tourism industry, which fears the loss of pristine landscapes, and environmentalists, who fear damage to the fragile biodiversity of the Namib, regarded as the driest and oldest desert in the world. Some environmentalists also are concerned about the renewed growth of an industry they still regard as dangerous despite industry claims of safety improvements since the Chernobyl disaster.

"They cannot tell us that they are safer than before," said Bertchen Kohrs, head of Earthlife Namibia, speaking from Windhoek, the capital. "It starts here with mining uranium, the whole cycle starts. Who says that some day we won't have to take back the nuclear waste here in Namibia?"

Roessing mine is a massive, dun-colored canyon two miles long, nearly a mile wide and more than 1,000 feet deep. From its lip, the giant dump trucks that haul uranium ore from the mine floor look like children's toys.

Several crushing machines pulverize the rock into sand, then powerful acids extract the traces of uranium. The end product, after processing, is a fine gray powder that leaves the mine in steel drums weighing 900 pounds. Mine officials say each holds as much potential energy as 40,000 barrels of oil.

All of Roessing's uranium oxide is used by civilian reactors, mine officials say, and is exported only to countries approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The government of Iran owns 15 percent of Roessing, a legacy of early investment in the 1960s by the shah there. Mine officials say no shipment of uranium has ever been made to Iran, and the country has no right to the mine's product. Roessing's majority owner is Rio Tinto, a global mining conglomerate.

Officials in Arandis say they hope to use the unexpected revival of the mine to secure the future of their town, which already has, by African standards, an enviable infrastructure, including paved roads, a soccer stadium, a library, streetlights and steady sources of electricity and clean water. Two small clothing factories and a technical college provide some jobs not directly affiliated with the mine.

The banks have not resumed operations, but one recently opened a cash machine in Arandis, and work on a new gas station is to begin this month, said Muhuura, the mayor. With population on the rise again, the town recently made a deal with a builder to construct 50 homes.

The mine also has donated one of its dump trucks to Arandis, where it sits massively, with giant rubber wheels twice the height of most men, in the center of town. It is the first piece of what town officials hope is an eventual mining museum, part of the plan to help the town survive the next big downturn in uranium demand, whenever it comes.

"We want to turn around to show the world that this town will never be a ghost town," Muhuura said.