RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A mining company's claim that the milling of uranium would not harm water supplies is being met with skepticism.

Virginia Uranium Inc. held a news conference in Virginia Beach on Tuesday and assured residents that public water supplies would not be threatened by the processing of the radioactive ore. The company's Patrick Wales said that's because the waste ore and rock would be held in below-ground containment cells.

But a former director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality called the claim "poppycock." Robert Burnley said the decision on how to store the waste would be made by regulators, not Virginia Uranium.

Burnley is opposed to ending Virginia's 30-year ban on uranium mining.