URANIUM mining is not a safe or sustainable industry for Australia (''Mine fears grow as pollutants flow to Kakadu'', The Age, 24/5).

The Ranger mine is meant to epitomise world's best practice.

But a poorly engineered dam apparently collapsed, spilling 6 million litres of radioactive water into the Gulungul Creek, which flows into Kakadu. Is this the best the uranium mining industry can manage?

Here in Alice Springs, Canadian company Cameco wants to dig a uranium mine at Angela Pamela, just over 10 kilometres from the southern outskirts of town.

The mine is inside our water catchment boundary and water control district. If a dam like the one at Kakadu were to burst, radioactive water could rush downhill to the site of our future drinking water bore at Rocky Hill, recharging into the aquifer and contaminating our precious underground water supply.

The company has assured residents that a mine poses no risk to our drinking water. But

how can we trust an industry that considers contaminating one of world's most significant natural and cultural heritage sites as ''world's best practice''?

No clean water, no Alice Springs. Is a uranium mine worth the risk? Judging by the experience of the Mirrar people in Kakadu - no way.